Siren's Song
by Gravity-Did-It
Summary: Armony went to camp half-blood to learn to survive in the world of the gods, but an ancient curse threatens her family, so will her time at camp help her suvive or seal her doom. ConnorXOC
1. Chapter 1

**Alright readers I hope you enjoy this, my first fanfic for Percy Jackson, called Harmony, I decided to write about my own half-blood, and her adventures, but don't worry all our favorite half-bloods are going to be in it, I'm going to make sure that they all have a part. It's kind of slow right now but I promise it's going to be way more action. However I want to thank Octopus for giving me a very good review (I mean good in the sense that it was helpful) So this is my improved version.**

**Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_Ch.1 Percy Jackson is a Jynx_

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Ugh stupid alarm clock. I woke to the annoying beeps of my _brother's_ alarm clock. "Max! Max! MAAX! Turn off your alarm!" I yelled from the other room. I through the covers off of my body, that brother of mine is so gonna get it. My last day of school and I still couldn't sleep in, because for some reason my eight year old brother, was obsessed with waking up at six o'clock in the morning. I ran into his room and to my surprise no Max, I shut off his alarm. Still I couldn't go to sleep, see when my brother decides to wake up early it's a bad thing, he takes the term class clown to a whole new level he's more like, class menace. And this being his last day of school too, well that means he has something big planned.

I walked downstairs to find my brother in the kitchen, marking things off of a clipboard with a crayon. I looked at our table it was covered with balloons, jars of paint oatmeal, egg yolks, vinegar, baking soda and smoke bombs and stink bombs; he was going to have one hell of a last day of school. I rest my arms on his dirty blonde head while I looked over his checklist. "Wow Max do you really wanna be kicked out of school on your last day?" I asked.

"Well," Max looked at me with his big brown eyes. "It can't be my last day unless it's actually my last day in that school." He was right…technically. "Besides I've never been caught." Again he was right. Max has always pulled pranks at his school but no one has ever caught him. Whenever Max would get in trouble his principle would call me over from the high school and they would tell me that Max was "under suspicion", I would ask "if they had proof", they would say "no" and they would let him go. The school normally calls me out of class because for one my mom is always busy with rehearsal, she's the cellist in an orchestra and so she has to practice all the time, and two the high school is within walking distance of the middle school and the elementary school (they're actually next to one another)

"So what are you planning Max?" I asked out of courtesy, I already knew what he was planning. Call it déjà vu but I always got a feeling about some things every now and then and I am usually right.

"Why should I tell you? You already know." He went back to his checklist. Max checked off the last box, and began packing his supplies into his back pack. When he was finished mom walked into the kitchen. Besides the fact tha my mom is a wicked musician, she's beautiful. My mom has shiny wavy black hair that looks always like it's been styled even after she's just woken up, and really pretty chocolate brown eyes. I inherited my mom's hair color but unfortunately my hair is just straight and my eyes are blue. And Max inherited his dad's looks upturned eyebrows, mischievous smile, except for his hair it came out as dirty blonde which was weird because his dad had curly black hair.

"How are my kids this morning?" Mom asked. She looked at Max's back pack but he just smiled innocently and mom's suspicion melted away.

"We're good mom just waiting for school to end already, so we can go to New York already." Mom has an old friend she met while in college, they stayed in touch and he and his wife invited us to New York so mom could show me her alma mater, Juilliard.

"_Yo Tambien mija." _My mom slipped into Spanish. When she moved to the states she learned English, and lost her accent but every now and then Spanish just slips out. "I'll make breakfast you go get ready for school."

**After Breakfast.**

I drove Max to school and dropped him off; I drive a 2006 red convertible mustang."Okay Max if I finish my finals early I'll take you out for the day."

"Yeah like that's gonna happen." Max said. He was right we both have dyslexia, and ADHD; tests are not easy things to finish. Any way I made my way into my first testing class; English.

I finished the test with three minutes to spare; a new record. And my next testing period was music, which there was no test so instead we sat around the room listening to music. I was sitting on the window sill listening to _Te Amo_ by Rhianna, drawing whatever came to mind, my hand kind of just moved on its own. I looked down at my paper and the design I was drawing looked like ancient greek, and I could read it. "Perseus Jackson" I said aload. Suddenly I heard a growling coming from outside and over the music of my iPod. I looked outside and a huge black dog was next to the woods and staring at me growling. Now when I say huge I don't mean Mastiff big I mean Grizzly big. This black dog had glowing red eyes. Then it started sniffing the air and looked off to its right, with one last growl towards me, it stalked off toward the elementary school.

"Hey where'd that poodle go?" Blair, the class ditz said. Okay a poodle? I know Blair isn't the smartest of people but I know she wasn't blind either. I didn't answer her instead I did something stupid I ran outside of the school through the emergency exit and ran to the elementary school.

Normally if I saw a large black grizzly dog I would thank my lucky stars I was inside however, when the dog looks hungry and walks off to the elementary school when recess is going on, well I can't let anything happen to Max, what would I tell mom?

I ran onto the play ground all the kids were out playing. There wasn't any panic so I must've beaten the dog here; I looked for max in the sea of kids. I spotted his blondish head by the woods; he was sitting on a stump and looking in his back pack, checking on his supplies. My panic began to subside when I saw that he was safe but it was short lived. Behind him the dog was walking slowly out of the woods closer to my oblivious little brother, its mouth was open its fangs yellowish and horribly sharp.

"Max!" I yelled with all my might. He looked up at me, and saw the fear that was probably written all over my face. Max turned around to come face to face with those big fangs. He rolled out of the way just in time, as the dog took a bite of the stump he was sitting on. I ran to my little brother as fast as I could, around me I heard people talking about a black poodle. Max ran to me as the dog continued to chomp on the stump, ignorant that it was eating wood.

"Armony what is that?" He was confused but not as frantic as I was. I grabbed onto him and pulled him away from the dog. The dog looked back at us, I don't know what was going through its head but, I saw a kindergartener walking up to the dog saying "puppy". What the hell is wrong with everyone's eyes today? The dog focused its attention on the easier meal. I couldn't let the kid get hurt.

"Hey you over grown Chihuahua!" Max looked at me like I was crazy, then he saw the kid. "Over here you quadripedal mistake." But no luck the dog started to advance on the kid. "Perseus Jackson" I yelled. That got its attention; it turned toward me and began to growl. It started running after us mouth wide in anticipation of a meal. I grabbed Max's backpack and through what I could; a box of baking soda went into its mouth. The dog began to slow down, chewing on the box until it started tasting the powder then it just looked at me murderously. I looked through the back pack, and found a water balloon; I really hope it's filled with what I hope it's filled with. I threw the balloon into its mouth it popped against its teeth. The liquid splashed onto the baking soda and began to foam. Yes, it was filled with vinegar! The foam caused the dog to go into a burping, gagging fit, distracting him (I'm guessing it was a him).

Around us I heard people talking. "The dog is foaming at the mouth!", "That dog is rabid!", "Get the kids inside!", "Call animal control!" etc. The teachers started rushing the kids inside, but in all the chaos some guy in bark armor with goat legs walked out of the forest with another guy with goat legs, who was really fat and had big curling horns and three girls that were green. The fat guy started playing something on a pan-flute and grass began to grow around the dog on epic levels, the grass was as tall as the dog and kept him from moving. Then the green girls jumped up and threw what looked like braided vines around the dog's neck and started dragging the dog back into the woods. The last thing I heard was a loud howl of pain.

"Armony?" Max said staring into the forest.

"Yeah Max." I wasn't sure but the forest looked darker than usual.

"Can we go home?" I wasn't going to argue.

"What do we tell mom Max, she totally gonna freak." I was a stressed mess pacing the floor. We could have easily become that dog's meal. "And what was up with everyone thinking it was a poodle; that was not a poodle! And what about those weird people that came out of the forest?" So many questions and not one had an answer.

"Maybe we shouldn't tell mom she'll just get worried." Max answered me. I looked at him obviously confused. "Well what better way to get away from the danger than going to New York. When we come back we can check up and see if there is anymore danger." For an eight year old he was pretty smart. I walked over to him and hugged him tightly.

"I'm really glad you weren't hurt Max." I started to cry.

"I'm glad you weren't hurt either Armony." He looked me in the eye and smirked "what would I tell mom; that you tried feeding a dog vinegar and baking soda and got bitten." The little snot; but there was still one question that was on my mind that I couldn't get out of my head; who was Perseus Jackson?

Waiting for my mom was the longest five hour wait ever. Every minute we would look outside to make sure that there wasn't a big black dog looking for a meal. Finally when my mom got home, we grabbed all of our luggage and ran straight to the car. My mom couldn't drive fast enough for me. We made it to the airport and I still couldn't relax not until we were safely in New York. Luckily however they make first class very comfortable, all the stress from the day had seriously wiped me out I was asleep before I knew it.

While I was asleep I dreamed or I had a memory I'm not sure. I was playing my violin on a New York fire escape. I played what I saw, like a soundtrack to New York, the pace was fast but every now and then would slow but it never lost its energy, as people enjoyed life, became depressed, life was born, taken away, people fell in love, had their hearts broken, and made love, the cries, the smiles, the individual songs that became a chorus. Now why I said I'm not sure whether it was a dream or a memory, well I've never been to New York before but the image in my head was so vivid and real and familiar, I honestly couldn't say whether it was a dream I had or the memory of a dream that I've had many times before but never remembered.

We landed in New York and despite the hour it took to get our luggage we were psyched. Mom went outside looking for her friend and called us toward her when she found him. My mom was standing next to a man with salt-n-pepper hair, he looked about thirty-something, he was good looking but kind of like an actor, he had on a brown jacket over a black t-shirt and blue jeans. His wife was really pretty she had blue eyes and long brown hair and was dressed in a blue blouse and blue jeans, I gotta say blue looked really good on her. And he drove a prius… I started missing my mustang.

"Honey." My mom said looking at me. "This is Paul Blofis and his wife Sally. And Paul, Sally these are my kids Armony and Max.

"Hello there Armony it's nice to meet you." Mr. Blofis extended his hand to me I shook it.

"Hello Mr. Blowfish it's nice to meet you too." He looked at me with a weird expression.

"It's not Blowfish its Blofis." He said smiling like this was a mistake he was tired of .

"Oh," I said "Are you sure?" His wife laughed at the joke, but my mom gave me a disapproving look. Max and I switched people and I introduced myself to Mrs. Blofis.

"Hello Mrs. Blofis it's nice to meet you." I said shaking hands with Mrs. Blofis.

"Well it's good to meet you too but you can call me Sally." She smiled at me she looked like she was really nice.

"Is it because you don't want me to accidently call you Blowfish?" I asked. She laughed at my joke/question but I never got the answer. Paul helped me and Max load are luggage into his prius while mom and Sally talked about her son Percy. When we got into the car Sally revealed the sleeping arrangements, my mom and I would share her son's room, while Max and her son, Percy would sleep in the living room. When my mom had told us we were going to stay with her friends I wasn't sure why because we could afford a pretty nice hotel. But I didn't realize they were gonna have a such a small apartment, I wasn't trying to be a snob but…

"Percy is sixteen like you Armony." Sally was telling me about her son. "He didn't come with us because he was telling his girlfriend Annabeth bye, she was in New York at a Bordering school, but she's going to San Francisco to visit her family for a few days." Cute her son had a girlfriend, but what did she mean by going to "visit for a few days" wouldn't she visit her family for the summer? I stopped listening as we came into view of the Empire State Building, it was magnificent. Max and I craned our heads to get a better look.

When we got to their apartment building, Paul helped with our luggage and Sally lead the way to their apartment. She unlocked the door, we walked into the room it was cozy, not big but, it gave everyone comfortable room even with the luggage.

"Percy!" Sally called out to her son. "Come meet our guests." A boy with black hair and green eyes walked into the room. He was wearing a navy blue t-shirt and blue jeans. Okay what is with all the blue?

"Hi I'm Percy." He waved 'hi'. Percy was kind of cute, but off limits; I don't go after taken boys.

"Percy, this is Armony, Max and their mother, Maria Soladad." Sally introduced us. We waved 'hi' back. "Percy help Armony move her luggage into your room." Sally ordered him. He grabbed my luggage and showed me to his room. It was obviously a boy's room; it looked like he had just hastily tried to clean. He had a lot of things that looked ancient Greek and ocean reminiscent.

"Hmm" I said.

"What?" He looked at me like I was judging him.

"Nothing, this is just the first time I've been in a boy's room before." I lied.

"Oh." Percy looked kind of embarrassed. Then my eyes set at his window. The window aloud for a great view of the city, well for me anyway. I walked to the window and opened it.

"Wow this view is great." I looked out the window outside there was a fire escape below the window. "Percy can you hand me my violin?"

"Uh sure." He went to my things and grabbed my violin case. He opened it and handed me my violin and bow. I walked onto the escape. "What are you doing?" Percy asked me.

"Well," I saw no reason not to tell him the truth." I once had a dream about creating a soundtrack for New York." I placed the violin under my chin and raised the bow. Before I started I looked around and everything thing I thought I would see I saw. I strummed the bow across the strings and I felt the world around me channeled into music.

**Percy's POV**

My mom had told me earlier that we would have an old friend of Paul's and her family stay with us, but I had forgotten. That they were coming today I had just said 'bye' to Annabeth and now I had to clean my room as quickly as possible.

I had just finished shoving some of my clothes into the hamper when my mom called me to come meet our guests. Paul had told me that his friend Maria had two kids, her daughter was my age her son was eight, but I wasn't expecting to be kicked out of my room. My mom introduced our guests, Maria, was really very beautiful with long shiny black hair she looked like a movie star. Armony her daughter looked almost exactly like her mom but instead of brown eyes she had sky blue eyes and her skin wasn't as dark as her moms, but still kind of tanned with a few freckles on her nose. Max looked like a son of Hermes, he had dirty blonde hair, big brown eyes, upturned eyebrows, and a mischievous smile.

I said 'hi' and then my mom told me to help Armony move her luggage into my room. I grabbed her luggage from her, and lead her to my room when he walked in she looked at everything. "Hmm" She said like she was concluding something.

"What" I asked her.

"Nothing, this is just the first time I've been in a boy's room before." She told me.

"Oh." Was all I could say. Then I realized that I was alone with a girl in my room, this was the first time that this had ever happened. When Annabeth came over my mom always made sure that either she or Paul was here to supervise. She walked over to my window.

"Wow this view is great." Armony said. Honestly the view wasn't that great but I guess if it's your first time to New York it'll work for yah. "Percy can you get me my violin?" She asked me.

"Uh sure." I said. I went to her things and grabbed what looked like violin case. I opened it and there was a violin. I handed her the violin and the stick. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well, I once had a dream about creating a soundtrack for New York." She climbed out onto the fire escape, and looked around the city. Armony placed the violin under her chin and raised the stick. The song she played I can't really describe it but it was beautiful, it was quick and energetic just like the 'City that never Sleeps' but every now and then it would slow and I could picture so many things; people on dates, people breaking up, living life happy or sad, but the thing I noticed most was while she played New York seemed to quiet down just a little, like it was letting the music speak for it.

She finished playing and instantly I missed what I had just heard. "Wow that was beautiful." My mom said; she, Paul, Miss Soladad and Max were standing in the door way; they had been drawn by the music. Paul was speechless, Max looked proud of his sister and so did Miss Soladad but she also looked sad.

"Uh thank you Sally." Armony looked a little embarrassed, wait did she just call my mom Sally?

"What is it that you just played?" Paul asked. He looked like he had just woken up from a dream that he missed.

"I-I just made it up." Armony answered. She looked a little uncomfortable with all the attention.

"Well I see why you want to show her Juilliard Maria." My Mom said to Miss Soladad.

"Yes, Armony is so talented that she will be accepted quite easily." Miss Soladad continued bragging about Armony as they made their way back into the living room. Armony breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well that was really awesome Armony." I said. She smiled.

"Thanks." Armony put up her violin and sat on my bed. "Hey Percy what does Percy stand for anyway?" The question caught me by surprise.

"Perseus, it stands for Perseus." At my answer Armony looked like she had just seen a ghost.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 is up and ready to go. Those of you who have read Chapter one probably thought that this Story was called Harmony but I changed it, cause the story just got a plot! Just kidding but seriously the Title reflects a very important element in the story.**

**Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_Ch.2 I'm half-Mexican not Greek._

Perseus! Crap Percy was Perseus Jack… wait a minute his last name is Blofis. Okay so I'm not going to be attacked by a big black dog, good.

"Armony? Armony are you alright?" Percy was trying to get my attention. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Oh, sorry." I apologized. "Just had weird thought." Percy must've figured I wasn't going to talk about it.

"So does Armony stand for anything?" He asked me effectively changing the subject. Then Max walked into the room looking at all of Percy's things, I'm pretty sure he was looking for stuff to steal, but Percy didn't seem to care.

"Well not really, my name is actually misspelled." He looked at me funny waiting for me to explain. "See my mom is from Mexico, and so is my grandma." He didn't see what this had to do with my name. "We have a tradition that when you have a girl, the grandma names her. So my grandma named me Harmony, see in Spanish the letter 'H' doesn't make a sound so she didn't pronounce the 'H' and it sounded like Armony. So the nurse wrote my name as Armony." It was true; I just left out the part about grandma picking my name out while she was reading the English Dictionary.

"What about Soladad?" Percy asked. I wasn't sure why he was so interested in my name but I guess the topic was my fault. But Max stood up and started to explain.

"Well our ancestors were once a tribe of people that worshipped the Sun." Max said simply. "_Sol _means Sun in Spanish." The answer satisfied Percy, Max walked behind him to look at more things.

"So how about your last name how'd you get Blofis?" I asked. I was actually curious. He looked at me with a weird expression; did I miss something?

"Paul is my step-dad my last name is Jackson." Oh not good, I was right; sometimes I actually hate it when I'm right. But no black dog was growling or anything, maybe…

"Uh Armony I think you should look outside." Max said, he sounded nervous. Percy and I walked to the Window and looked outside. And two snake lady things, were in the street, they were green and had two long snake tails for legs. "What are those things?"

"I'll be back in a second." Percy said. Max and I turned around. But Percy was gone.

"Oh hell no." I said. "He is not getting away that easy." I ran after him. We ran through the living room. I said something like. "Percy outside bye". And we ran out the door. Max was close behind me when we got out onto the street. Percy was talking to the snake-ladies, but it didn't look like it was going well, one of the ladies had a long spear. The other had a bow and a quiver of arrows. Then things took a turn for the worst Percy reached into his back pocket for something, he looked surprised when he didn't have anything, and the snake lady with the spear raised it to his throat. "Max what did you take from Percy?" I asked. Over the years I learned that if something just happened to go missing Max was usually behind its disappearance. Max produced a small pen but something was different about it, it just didn't seem normal. I grabbed the pen from Max. "Percy! Here!" I yelled and threw the pen to him. He uncapped the pen and it grew into a sword. He slashed the lady with the spear and she turned into golden dust. But the other lady was quick and sent me a vicious glare she shot an arrow at me and it lodged into my shoulder. Holy shit that hurt, it was like getting a shot but…; who am I kidding? It was nothing like getting a shot it just hurt horribly and every time I moved fire went through my shoulder. I blacked out.

I woke up when I tasted orchata. I opened my eyes and there was a spoon in my mouth. I sat up and instantly regretted it. I head butted Percy who was feeding me with the spoon. "Ow, shit!" My hand went to my head. Then I remembered that I had an arrow in my shoulder, my hand went to my shoulder but there was no arrow and all the pain was gone. "What happened?" Percy was standing next to a bed that I was lying on. I looked around and it looked like a nurse's office for a camp. "Where am I? Where's Max?" I could not lose him again; mom still hadn't forgiven me from that time we went camping.

"Don't worry Max is safe he's off playing with some of the others campers." I looked at Percy he wasn't worried so I guess Max was alright. "And as to where you are; you're at camp half-blood." Say what?

"Camp what-blood?" I asked.

"Camp half-blood." He answered.

"What blood?"

"Half-blood."

"Wait what blood?" I couldn't resist.

"Half-blood." He said again he still didn't get I was playing with him.

"Okay so camp what blood?" I tilted my head to keep from smiling; Percy was so dense.

"Camp half-blood." He said again. I couldn't take it anymore and I started laughing. Percy stood there confused. Until he finally realized I was messing with him.

"So what does the 'half' stand for?" I asked him this time serious.

"Well you know the Greek Myths?" I nodded. Where was he going with this? "Well they're not myths they're real." Percy just told me that Greek myths were real. Okay, what kind of kookcoo house did I just stumble in? "And Armony, you and Max are demigods." Okay I had to be dreaming.

"So let me get this straight." I said trying to make sense of the situation. "Greek myths are real I'm a demigod, you're a demigod, and Max is a demigod." He nodded. "Oh yeah, prove it." Percy looked taken aback, like I was gonna believe everything he had just told me, I have some sense.

Percy helped me out of bed and took me to meet two people, he said they were important. Percy introduced me to a, Mr. D who pretty much looked like a drunk, he was wearing a tiger striped Hawaiian shirt, and looked incredibly bored and annoyed at my presence.

"Great another camper in this horrible hole." Mr. D said.

Chiron on the other hand was actually interested and asked if I felt alright. Chiron seemed normal but I did know at least a little about Greek Mythology, Chiron was a teacher to heroes and was like part horse, not a paraplegic. I tried really hard not to stare at the wheelchair.

"I feel fine Mr. Chiron but… I thought you were a centaur." Mr. Chiron smiled at me.

"Well it's good to know that you know your mythology and you can just call me Chiron." Chiron was pretty cool actually, for a figment of my imagination anyway. He and Percy started explaining about camp-half blood how it was a place to raise demigods so they could train to survive in the 'real' world and all this other wonderful stuff about how half-bloods are usually attacked and that is why they are forced to come train here. Chiron wheeled over to the entrance of what Percy called the Big House, they decided to give me a tour. I looked down and realized I was wearing different clothes; an orange camp half-blood t-shirt and blue shorts. Even in a dream I don't need people undressing me.

"Okay before we do anything." I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks. "Who changed my clothes?" Both looked at me but neither of them registered my embarrassment.

"That would have been me." I turned around to see a girl with frizzy red hair and green eyes. "Hello my name is Rachel." Rachel looked like an art student; she had drawings over her jeans and a white t-shirt that had paint splatters. She held out her hand, and I took it. Then all hell broke loose. Rachel doubled over like she had just been punched in the stomach, she straightened herself up quickly, and her eyes were glowing a creepy green. The air seemed to have been sucked out of the room every breath was like breathing through a straw. My body felt clammy but too warm at the same time. Then she spoke in a three voices each harmonizing with the other in the most horrible sound.

"_Song of Celebration_

_Shall not be sung in collaboration_

_Sung with dark emotion_

_Begins the transformation_

_One voice alone will sing_

_And alone, lives be saved or death ring_

_The one you love shall be drawn but immune_

_And escape the dreadful tune_

_He alone shall save your mind_

_Through actions of love described as kind_

_But ancient curse still reveal_

_Defeat lies through trickery of the deal"_

Rachel's eyes stopped glowing, they returned to her natural green eyes, but in my mind I could still see that dreadful glow. My body felt weak, Rachel looked winded but besides that she seemed fine. Each breath I made felt like it was being drawn out of me; what had I just seen? My body felt fatigued like I had just run ten miles, I couldn't stand up I collapsed. Percy caught me, he, Chiron and Rachel were talking franticly to one another, but I couldn't make out what they were saying, they sounded like the adults from _The Peanuts _cartoons.

While I was passed out I had a dream, I was in a yellow ball gown with lots of ruffles, and I was dancing with a humanoid version of that big black dog that I saw a few days ago. There was a talking candelabra and clock, and we were dancing to a singing teapot. I looked at the ugly face of my partner but it changed, and so did his butt, suddenly I was dancing with Chiron but his legs were that of a white horse. Dancing with a centaur in my dream actually wasn't very awkward, Chiron span me outward and brought me back, but again my partner changed. My new partner had curly brown hair that hung in his eyes. I looked at him and I was speechless (well I wasn't talking to begin with but if I had been talking), I just stared at him wide eyed, he smiled at me and I could feel my face flush. Then I woke up.

Okay I had just learned one very important thing I was not dreaming. I sat up and luckily I didn't hit anybody. I was in the same bed that I had woken up in before. I looked around me, Percy, Chiron (who was still in a wheel chair), Rachel and Max were around me and were watching me intently, and I felt kind of embarrassed for fainting in front of them.

"Armony are you okay?" Max said, I guess my fainting had scared him. Max looked like he had just walked into a candy store without decent security and no one was around (which happened once) at my waking up. He hugged me and knocked some of the air out of me.

"Yeah Max I'm fine." I actually felt a little under the weather but… he didn't need to worry about me. "Where have you been though?" I asked back to him.

"I was playing with Blackjack, the Pegasus, and then I went to the armory and got this." Max pulled a bronze knife out of his pocket. Oh my god, (or is it gods now?) my eyes widened at the sight; my little brother was smuggling weapons. Percy must have seen my expression because he plucked the knife out of Max's hand.

"Hey!" Max protested.

"So this is actually happening, isn't it?" I asked. Rachel looked at me sympathetically.

"Yeah it's happening." Rachel said she gave me a smile of encouragement, and put her hand on my shoulder. I looked her in the eyes and saw that glowing again; I shuddered. She noticed and took her hand back.

"Wh-what now?" My voice cracked. I looked at Max who was excited beyond belief.

"Well until your godly parent claims you, which will probably be later today, you will stay in the Hermes cabin." Chiron said all authoritative like. "We will give you a few minutes to get ready then Percy will give you and Max a proper tour of the camp." Chiron, Percy and Max left, Rachel stayed behind to help me.

"Rachel what happened?" She knew what I was talking about.

"Well Armony I'm the Oracle." Rachel said. When she told me she sounded proud. "And what happened was… well I gave a prophecy."

"So you saw the future? What did you see?" Cause it did not look happy.

"Well I can't actually remember exactly what I said." Rachel looked a little deflated, at admittance.

"You don't have to answer this if you don't want too," I said, I really wanted to know what she went through. "What did it feel like?" Rachel looked at me like no one had ever asked her before.

"It's weird, there's this overwhelming force that you can't fight and it just…" She paused looking for words but found none. "Besides that there really isn't any other way to describe it." Rachel helped me out of bed and when we both decided that I was ready to walk she let me go. Percy and Max were waiting by the entrance to the Big House. Percy looked back at me and decided I wasn't going to faint.

"Ready for your tour?" He asked. I nodded and smiled. We walked, people would say high to Percy or ask who Max or I was and that was about the norm of our walk. We passed a volleyball court where, those half goat guys, Percy said they were called satyrs were playing against some of the other campers, it looked like the campers were winning. Then came the arts and crafts, which was filled with a bunch of guys hammering on hot metal, sparks flying, and one of them had only one eye.

"Tyson!" Percy yelled at the guys the one with the _eye_ looked at Percy and smiled a huge snaggle toothed grin. He ran over. "Armony, Max this is my brother Tyson, Tyson this is Armony and Max."

"Hi Tyson." I said weakly.

"Hi Tyson!" Max said cheerfully. "You're a Cyclops that is so cool!" Tyson smiled like he had just won a popularity contest.

"Hi Max, how old are you?" Tyson asked, which was pretty random.

"I'm eight." Max didn't even notice the question came out of nowhere.

"I'm nine." Tyson said smiling even bigger now.

"Cool lets go play." Max yelled. Tyson agreed, he and Max then ran off in a random direction.

"I guess our brothers are friends." Percy noted. I felt weirded out, weren't Cyclops like really bad monsters. Percy guessed at my thoughts. "Tyson is a good Cyclops, don't worry hell take good care of Max." We began walking again. But a question popped into my head.

"Percy, who is your dad?" I asked.

"Poseidon." So his dad was god of the sea. We kept walking, so Percy had a half-brother through Poseidon; was it normal for gods to have kids that weren't human, or at least part human? I thought back to the myths; yes, yes it was. We continued walking we passed a very nice looking lake, an amphitheatre, and a climbing wall with lava; (this camp either helped you survive or helped you meet your doom). We crossed a creek and came upon a dining pavilion, the Mess Hall; there were a lot of campers by the Mess hall so I guessed it was close to lunch. Then we came upon the cabins they were arranged in a large oval around a fire pit with a girl picking at the fire with a stick, she looked about Max's age, then again I could be wrong, after all Tyson was around Max's age. She looked over and I waved 'hi' but she continued poking the flames. The Olympian cabins were pretty cool but it was pretty easy to guess which god they belonged to. Percy approached a large cabin with large marble columns and it looked like lightning was going through it. "This is Zeus' Cabin." Percy explained.

"Okay so if that is Zeus then the one next to him would have to be Hera, right?" Percy looked at me surprised. So I explained. "If the cabins follow the Olympian throne seating then it should be…" I looked around at the cabin next to Zeus. "Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes." I looked to the cabins arranged on the right beside Hera. Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, and because Hestia gave her throne up, Dionysus should be the next cabin. But shouldn't Hades have a cabin?" I turned around and looked at all the other cabins there was one with a skull over the door, and it was made from black rock. "I'm assuming that that's Hades' cabin." Suddenly Percy's hand was covering my mouth. Without my talking I realized it was thundering pretty fiercely.

"Armony, names are powerful things. You don't use the names of the gods so casually." Percy warned. And I had just used the names of every major god in the Greek myths.

"How'd you know so much about Greek myths." Percy asked me.

"Well my freshman year in high school I needed to raise my GPA, we had a English archetype mythology class that was supposed to be a blow off class but the teacher quit and the new teacher actually made it very challenging. You had to commit everything to memory just to pass." I answered. I still remember the teacher Mrs. Underwood, she had said that her class would either increase your GPA or crush it. Percy had lost interest at the mention of school and turned my attention to the other cabins.

"Alright now the rest of the cabins belong to minor gods. So depending on who your godly parent is will decide where you stay."

"But for now I'm staying in Hermes cabin." I walked over to Hermes Cabin. It had looked like it had been repainted and it had a painting of Hermes staff with the snakes. I was about to open the door when it opened and I fell into the cabin. "Ouch." I said standing up and there was that guy from my weird princess dream and there was two of him. How hard did I hit the floor? "Oh sorry, about falling in here." I could feel the familiar red in my cheeks beginning to burn. I just fell flat on my face, I'm normally used to tripping and falling but I normally don't do it in front of people. Now that I had a better look he was actually two people.

"Hey Connor look a new camper." The taller one said.

"Hey are you okay." Connor said. He took my hand and helped me up. I tried to talk but my voice wouldn't let me; gods I hope he didn't notice. Luckily Percy came in and made it less awkward.

"Hey guys this is Armony, she's a new camper along with her brother Max." Percy introduced me. "She's undetermined so she'll be staying with you guys for now."

"Alright." They both said at once. "I'm Travis Stoll" Travis held out his hand; I shook it. "And I'm Connor Stoll." Connor held out his hand and I shook it too. "We'll get you some supplies from the camp store." Connor said. He winked and he and Travis left.

"Okay let's go and finish up the tour, Armony." Percy said. I looked one last time at the cabin and left.

**Connor's POV**

Travis and I were talking about our new 'recruit', Max. "He is definitely a kid of Hermes." Travis said. "Did you see him take that knife from the armory?"

"Dude I was with you, remember? But yeah he is definitely, a kid of our dad's." Max looked like all of us Hermes kids, upturned eyebrows, mischief written all over his face. "So if he's our 'brother' does that mean his sister is our 'sister'?" We had finally just gotten rid of all the minor god's kids and 'undetermined's, and it wasn't a bad thing that we were getting more siblings. But the cabin was always so crowded.

"She's probably our sister." Travis answered. "Too bad though, it would be nice to get some new girls here that weren't related to us." He was right, but everyone here was kind of related to each other in a disturbing way. "Hey what do you think of spray painting the Hecate Cabin Pink?"

"Dude that is awesome they will freak." I answered. "But were gonna have to go get some 'supplies'." I turned to open the door, I pulled the door open and a girl crashed to the floor falling on her face.

"Ouch." She said she looked up at us trying to focus her eyes. "O sorry about falling in here." She stood up and I could see her beginning to blush, she had long dark black hair and bright blue eyes. She had freckles even though she was tan. The freckles on her nose began to redden with her skin; I bet I could actually count them. She was actually pretty cute.

"Look Connor a new camper." Travis said. There was an undertone in his voice that told me he had just thought of a new prank.

"Hey are you okay?" I asked. I took her hand and helped her up. She tried to answer but nothing came out. Then Percy walked in.

"Hey guys this is Armony, she's a new camper along with her brother Max." Percy introduced Armony. "She's undetermined so she'll be staying with you guys for now." So this was Max's sister. I guess I wouldn't mind having her and Max stay for a while.

"Alright." Travis and I said together. "I'm Travis Stoll." Travis introduced himself, and shook Armony's hand. "And I'm Connor Stoll." I took her hand and shook it. "We'll get you some supplies from the camp store." I winked at her and Travis and I left, to go 'get' her and ourselves some supplies.

"So you think she's our sister?" Travis asked.

"I hope not." I said back.

**Ch. 2 is complete, it's longer than what I usually write. If anybody sees some grammar I need to fix please say something. Or if you see anything I didn't address please, bring it up I can only improve if I know what to improve on. **

**Buuuut I do appreciate it when people tell me what I did right. Reviews that praise may not be as helpful as reviews that criticize but they do help the writer realize that they are doing something right, and it gives the writer a positive feeling about what we're doing. Remember this doesn't just apply to me.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_Ch. 3 Hermes is Harold_

Percy continued the tour. We passed by the strawberry fields, the arena where they had chariot races, the armory, Max had already become acquainted with this place, and the stables which were pretty impressive, Percy introduced me to Blackjack the, Pegasus that had flown me and Max over to camp. Then a thought crossed my mind; how was my mom, I instantly felt guilty.

"Percy does my mom know where Max and I are?" I tried not to let the worry appear in my voice.

"Well my mom and Paul said they were going to fill her in on the whole situation." Percy said. My nerves relaxed a bit. But I still had more questions that were pressing me.

"Percy could you do me a favor and answer all my questions?" Percy looked at me and nodded. "First, what were those things that I saw attack you, two, how come every time I say your name something attacks me, and third, how can I talk to my mom?" Percy listened quietly.

"Okay, firstly the things that attacked us were called Scythian Dracaena. Second, well…" Percy explained by telling me how Kronos the titan Lord tried to come back and end Olympus but was stopped by Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, who had also helped start it. There was also a whole bunch of other stuff but at the end of his explanation my body felt cold and my brain felt overworked. When Percy stopped explaining he seemed very sad and regretful at all the lives lost. But at my last question he smiled. "I can show you how to contact your mom." My body began to warm as I thought of my mother. But then a loud horn began to blow. "Looks like I'll have to show you later Armony. It's time for Dinner." Dinner? Man I must have been out longer than O thought but I was actually pretty hungry so I didn't argue; besides Percy said he would show me later.

We got to the Mess Hall, all the campers were there, there had to be at least a hundred kids here. Percy explained that the campers sit with their cabin. I looked around and spotted Max standing next to Chiron, who was part horse now, I was surprised but then again I had already danced with him; no need to be weirded out, right? Mr. D was standing behind a long table, looking bored. Max waved me over and I went to stand next to him.

"Mr. D. is going to introduce us to the camp and then we get to dump our food into the fire." Max filled me in. Great I got to be the center of attention; I really hope I don't have to say anything. But what did Max mean about the fire?

"What do you mean we dump our food in the fire?" I asked Max. But Chiron answered me.

"As a sacrifice to the gods." Chiron said. "So you give them the best item on your plate to honor them."

"Oh" I said in a small voice. Chiron was kind of imposing in his full centaur form.

Mr. D. stood up and suddenly the room began to quiet. "Campers please welcome our two newest campers." Mr. D said with absolutely no excitement. "Larmony and Fax Solomom." Did he just get our names wrong on purpose? I was kind of mad but I didn't want to correct Mr. D. in front of everyone. Everyone talked to their neighbors trying to figure out what our names really were. But they didn't need to talk anymore; a girl with brown hair and pink streaks pointed behind us. I turned around to look at what she was pointing at; bad idea. Behind us was a large painted banner that said "Welcome Max and Armony", while I turned a confetti canon shot into my face throwing me off balance and I fell backwards. I closed my eyes tightly waiting for the fall but I had been caught. I opened my eyes to see a boy with messy black hair and dark eyes. He propped me up on my feet and I got a better look he was wearing a lot of black, black t-shirt, black jeans, black shoes, dude was gothic or emo.

"Thanks." I muttered, my face going red from my lost fight with gravity.

"Your welcome. I'm Nico." He said introducing himself. Then he returned to his table, he sat by himself, yeah gothic or emo. Then I remembered that here you sat with your cabin which meant he was the only child of whoever his mom or dad was. I looked at the rest of the campers many of them were snickering at my fall, except for Max, Travis and Connor, and the rest of the Hermes cabin they all found it hilarious and were laughing right at me. The familiar heat rose to my face.

After the Hermes cabin had calmed down to just a few giggles every now and then everyone had their food and gold goblets were passed around the cabins stood up and started walking to the fire/ the hearth. As they passed the fire they would place a portion of their food and say which god it went to.

"Which god do we give our food to?" Max looked up at me. It was a good question; we didn't know who our parents were, so I guess it would be best to suck up. I thought about it.

"Hermes, after all we are staying in the Hermes cabin." I answered him. It made sense to me. He nodded. We walked up to the hearth and we both held out the best piece of brisket on out plates. "For Hermes." We said together, we dropped the meat into the flames. I smelt the flames but the fire didn't smell like burning food it smelled like something I hadn't smelled in a long time, licorice.

_"Max, Armony?"_ A voice spoke from out of nowhere, it sounded familiar.

"Max did you hear that?" I looked down at him but the expression on his face told me he had. I didn't have time to think about it. We were pushed out of the way to make room for the other campers.

"Come on you two." Connor called us over to sit at the Hermes table. I sat down across from Conner and Travis and heard "FFFUUURP" My eyes went wide, and my face went red, tomato farmers would be jealous of how quickly I turned red. The Hermes cabin started laughing and so did Max, I reached under me and pulled out a whoopee cushion. "Alright, sorry Armony but we couldn't resist." Connor somewhat apologized.

"But after we saw the way you got hit by our confetti canon we couldn't resist." Travis smiled. I put my hand over my face and smiled with them I guess it probably was funny. "Any way welcome to the Hermes table. As you know I'm Travis."

"And I'm Connor." Connor said. I actually already knew this, I guess they forgot. "We are the co-head counselors of the Hermes Cabin and these are the rest of your cabin mates," Connor started naming everyone down the table. "Chris, Taylor, Tyler, Levi, Mike, Craig, Michelle, Candace, Tucker, Lana and Robert." I had already seen the Hermes cabin, there were fourteen beds, and with Max and I that made fifteen campers in the cabin.

"So I guess I'll take the floor." I said. Connor looked at me confused until he realized what I was talking about.

"No, we have fourteen beds. And there's only fif…" Connor did the math and realized someone would have to sleep on the floor.

"As long as Max has a bed I'll be fine." I assured him. I looked over at Max he was eating a piece of brisket too big for him; he had stabbed it with his fork and was trying to bite a piece off.

"Well you could always share a bed with someone." Connor suggested then I thought of a way to try and get back at him.

"I guess if you need someone to sleep with you Connor I'll keep you warm." I said as sexy as I could and batted my eyelashes. If I had not been kidding there is no way I could have actually said that.

"I-I uh…" Connor stammered I had caught him off guard; a faint blush began to creep on his face. I laughed.

"I'm just joking Connor, laugh." His face returned back to normal. "By the way where do I get something to drink?" I said holding up my empty goblet.

"Like this." He grabbed his goblet and demonstrated. "Sprite." The goblet filled with the clear liquid. Then he smirked. "Red Sprite." The liquid turned red. That was awesome. I grabbed my goblet.

"Dr. Pepper, Pink Dr. Pepper." This was pretty cool. "Connor will this stain my mouth." He shrugged.

"So you and Max are brother and sister." Connor said it was an observation. "Do you guys have any idea who you dad might be?" I hadn't even thought about it. I had met Max's Dad which meant he was a god. Picturing Max's dad as a god was actually kind of hard though, he was always so normal.

"Well I have no idea who either of our dads might be." I said. I hadn't even met my dad, whenever I thought of my dad all I felt was sadness, false hope and loneliness.

"What do you mean either of your dads?" Travis had asked he had been listening in on our conversation.

"Max and I are half-siblings." I said, but I had never felt that Max was half anything, he was my brother that's all there was to it.

"So if you both are demigods but you have different dads then that means your mom…" Travis trailed off. I could feel anger rising in me. He made it sound like my mom was a slut for the gods.

"Travis you better be careful what you say next." I warned steel in my voice. I'm not one for conflict, but if someone messes with my family in any way I will make them pay. Travis looked at me apologetically. I backed off a bit. "Any way what happens after dinner?" Travis seemed relieved for the change in topic.

"Capture the Flag." Travis said. He and Connor spent the rest of our time at dinner explaining the rules of Capture the Flag. From what I could gather it was basically you normal game of capture the flag but Greek army style. "Although since you and Max haven't had any proper training you guys don't get to play." I wasn't sure whether to feel bad about that or to be glad.

"So who's against whom?" I asked.

"It's the Hermes, Hades, Poseidon, Athena, Aphrodite and Apollo cabins versus the Ares, Demeter, Hecate, Hephaestus, Nemesis, and the Iris cabins. It should be an easy win." Connor said.

"Campers!" Chiron yelled. "It is time for capture the flag. Go get you armor and report to the field." The campers got up and headed for the cabins. I got up and started walking to the Hermes cabin but my thoughts were about Max's dad who could he be?

I remember when Max was born, his dad Harold, or whatever his name really is, had stayed with us until mom came off of maternity leave. That was the happiest time of my life. It was like I had a complete family. I can't say for sure if Harold treated me like his daughter, I had no idea what a father daughter relationship was like but he treated me kindly and I loved it. The first time I met Harold I didn't like him but he made my mom happy. He would come to pick my mom up for a date and he would give me licorice. I hated licorice, I still do actually but, he made mom happy so I ate it anyway. But I began to warm up to him, he would play with me. Harold had two pet snakes George and Martha I used to pretend that they could talk; George would ask for mice to eat and Martha would reprimand him. After Max was born he didn't play with me as often but I was still happy but the more I saw him with Max the more jealous I got, but one day I realized that Harold wasn't going to stay with us. That night I made him promise.

**Flashback**

"Harlod, can you promise me something?" I looked at him his blue eyes meeting mine.

"What is it Armony?" He asked he had just put Max down for a nap, and Mom was sleeping in her room.

"I want you to promise me on your most precious thing that you will always come to visit Max for his birthday." I knew that Harold couldn't stay with us, I didn't know how but I knew he couldn't. I looked at him; he looked like he was about shake his head no. "Please Harold. I don't want Max to be like me." My voice started to cry but I couldn't let that stop me. "Don't let him wonder where his daddy is. Please be his daddy. Every Birthday I wish that my daddy will come to my birthday and hug me and say 'Happy Birthday' I don't even care if he brings a present, but he never comes. So please promise me you will always come and visit Max on his birthday, you don't even have to bring him a present but presents are nice. And I know he would like it." I grabbed onto the bottom of Harold's shirt and looked down at his shoes I didn't want to see him shake his head. I was still crying my tears fell on the floor I could see Martha and George come out of his pocket, looking at me.

"Yes Armony." Harold said yes, it took me by surprise. I looked up and I could see he was sad too. He put his hand on my head.

"You promise?" I asked.

"Yes Armony I promise on my most special thing that I will always come and visit Max on his birthday." I smiled. The tears still fell and I tasted the salt. I wiped my eyes and hugged him, he hugged me back.

**Present**

I got to the Hermes cabin, everyone was dressed in Greek armor. I looked toward Connor who was still putting on his armor. Travis was helping him with the straps. Then I noticed Max wasn't in here.

"Hey Connor where's Max?" I asked I could feel panic starting to stir.

"Uh he was behind us when we got here." Oh crap. The Panic started to seep into my thoughts what if he got hurt?

"No, this isn't good. I lost him again." I said alarm obvious.

"Don't worry he'll be fine. What do you mean you lost him again?" Connor tried to suppress my worry.

"This one time when we went camping-wait this is no time for reminiscing."

"Is someone freaking out because she can't find her brother?" I knew that voice. I turned around to see a man with black curly hair, gray hairs appeared every now and then in his hair. He was wearing a jogging suit like usual. It was Harold with Max riding on his shoulders.

"Harold. Thank you!" I was so happy Max wasn't hurt. "Wait what are you doing here?"

"Well I'm betting by now you've probably guessed that I'm a god." Harold said.

"Armony, do you know who this is?" Connor asked me.

"Yeah this is Max's dad." I said gesturing to Harold.

"Armony, I was walking back to the cabin when I saw dad talking to Mr. D. Did you know Mr. D.'s real name is Dionysus?" Max looked so excited, like a puppy that hadn't gotten to play for a long time and was finally allowed to.

"Armony I meant do you know which god this is?" Connor asked me a very obvious question.

"Connor if I knew which god this was, do you think I would be calling him Harold, besides I already told you I had no idea who our dads were." I snapped, sometimes I hate being asked questions I already explained.

"Armony don't talk to my son like that." Harold got mad, something in is voice showed his true nature, it was powerful. I looked at him confused until I realized; Harold is Hermes.

"I'm sorry lord Hermes." I apologized and bowed my head at that Harold looked incredibly surprised. I figured that was how you were supposed to talk to gods. "How are George and Martha?" I asked desperate to change the subject. As if on cue George and Martha poked out of Har-Hermes' pocket.

"_We're good Armony."_ Martha had talked she actually talked. I had always thought I imagined her talking.

_"Did you bring me a mouse?" _George asked.

_"George stop thinking about your stomach, she gives you a mouse on Max's birthday every year." _Martha nagged George.

"_But I want one now."_ They were just like I remembered. I smiled.

"Martha, George now is not the time." Har-Hermes chastised them. "Any way I was in the neighborhood when I got your sacrifice so I decided to come on by and see how my kids were doing." He didn't mean to but when he said my kids I knew I wasn't included in that and a pang of sadness hit my heart.

"Well dad we" Travis began but he was caught off by a horn. "Well dad we have a capture the flag to win." The Hermes cabin left, but first Hermes said hello to each of his children and told him he was rooting for them in Capture the Flag.

"Well you guys have no idea how surprised I was to find out that you guys were in camp half-blood, your mother wanted to shield you guys from this world." Hermes said. But I caught on to the last thing he had said.

"Wait mom knows about all this Greek gods and mythology stuff?" I could see now why my mom wanted to hide this stuff from us but if we were demigods this was something we should have known.

"Well yeah I assumed she finally decided to let you guys come here." Hermes looked confused. "But if she didn't let you guys get here?"

"Percy Jackson brought us here, Daddy." Max wanted to fill him in on his new hero.

"Well that explains a lot." Hermes nodded. He tried to pull Max off his shoulders but Max wouldn't let him, Hermes gave up with a smirk. I had to ask him this thought had been on my mind since Connor asked me.

"Hermes since you're a god, do you know who my father is." The smirk on his face disappeared.

"Armony I do but he made me promise not to tell you." I could feel my heart break. My tears pooled in my eyes, how could I let myself get my hopes up. Armony don't cry, nothing has changed he just doesn't want you to know who he is, you had figured this might have been a reason so don't cry; don't care, I told myself over and over like a mantra. "Armony he just wants you to prove that you are his daughter." What the hell did he mean by that?

"Armony are you okay?" I looked up and Max's big brown eyes were studying me.

"I-I'm fine Max." I faked a smile. "I just miss mom." I lied.

"I know it's early but Max." Hermes pulled Max off of his shoulders, this time Max didn't fight he was too curious. "Since you know about this _world_ now I see no problem with giving you these." Hermes pulled a shoe box from behind him. He opened the box and two black converse shoes. Max looked unimpressed, last year his dad had given him a spring loaded light saber with lights and sound. "Here try them on." Max took of his shoes and tried on his new pair. "Now say _maia_." Hermes ordered.

"_Maia_." Max echoed. His shoes sprouted wings and began to flap. Suddenly Max was up in the air. "Whoa! Ow!" He hit his head against the ceiling. Wow this was pretty cool.

"Alright Max, I'm going to go watch the rest of your siblings play capture the flag. Would you like to come we can fly over there." Max grinned and nodded. "Alright lets go." Hermes shoes grew wings and he and Max flew off. Leaving me by myself.

I was alone and bored. I walked to the Big House and saw Mr. D. with a pack of cards.

"Hello Mr. D, how are you?" I asked trying to be polite.

"Oh hello…Army." Okay I know he messed it up on purpose.

"Mr. D would you like to play a card game?" I gestured to the pack of cards. That peaked his interest.

"Do you know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D tried to hide his interest.

"No but if you teach me then I'll know then won't I." Mr. D. pursed his lips.

"Only because I don't have a pinochle partner I'll teach you." He took it as a chore but he taught me anyway. And…well…pinochle is hard especially if your opponent is a god who predates its existence.


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay for chapter 4 after I wrote ch3 this was actually kind of hard to come up with. I had the idea and I knew what was gonna happen but I struggled with writing it in a fluid way, I wanted it to flow easily but… please don't give up on Siren Song this chapter was just hard to get out.**

_Ch. 4 I get a Nickname_

"That is the ninth time in a row that I have won." Mr. D said. I couldn't tell whether he was happy or just bored about that. I had come close to winning once but…

"Well do you want to make it an even ten?" I asked. I knew that Mr. D would win again.

"No Sharmy. Capture the Flag is about over and then the Apollo cabin will lead the campers in a sing-along and you will have to join the rest of the campers. I mumbled "Oh" and left. I walked toward the forest, where capture the flag was being held. I looked up and I could see Hermes and Max flying around looking at whatever was happening. They both looked really excited. I stayed on the outskirts of the forest the last time I was near the forest a large black dog had attacked Max. I heard cheering, and a lot of offensive yells as well. A sharp yell forced me to look up, Max was cheering happily. "Looks like the Hermes Cabin won." I said to myself. The campers started walking out of the forest many of them looked banged up; there were cuts, bruises, swelling, black eyes, and other various wounds but none that looked life threatening. Except for this guy's broken leg, it looked pretty messed up. The guy was pretty big too so three other people who looked a lot like him had to help him move. One of them was a girl she was big and tall like the rest of them with longish stringy brown hair. She looked over to me and had a scowl on her face.

"What're you looking at?" She yelled at me.

"Just a guy with a broken leg." I said. She looked at me strangely I don't think she expected me to take her question so literal. She stopped propping the guy up; his leg hit the ground and he yelled in pain. I mouthed 'ouch'.

"You're that new girl who got hit by the confetti canon." The big girl recalled. My face grew a bit warmer.

"That would be me." Not like I could deny it. "Although I would prefer it if people would call me Armony instead of, that girl who got hit by the confetti canon." she smiled at my little rant.

"I'm Clarisse." Clarisse introduced herself and held out her hand. I took it, bad idea. Clarisse grabbed my hand and pushed my arm behind my back she held my hand between my shoulder blades. "Now I have a little initiation for new campers it's time for you to get acquainted with the plumbing." Her grip on my wrist was tight but not tight enough. I was able to twist my arm back to normal, my body now facing Clarisse, my gods this girl was huge. I had to be quick I hit Clarisse in her sternum with my knuckles, it doesn't hurt much but the shock got her to back off for a second. Clarisse began to charge at me but I swung my leg up and was about to roundhouse kick her in the face, but something told me to leave this at a stalemate. We stayed like that, in mid battle; two statues. Clarisse looked angry but I guess an understanding passed between us she looked at me and smirked. "Not bad let's do it right this time." _Lets?_ Yeah cause I'm the one who attacked her. "I'm Clarisse daughter of Ares." This time when I took her hand she didn't try anything but her grip, told me not to try that again.

"I'm Armony…daughter of somebody." It was the best intro I could come up with.

"If this is your first summer here where did you learn to fight?" I guess the daughter of the war god would be interested in my fighting abilities.

"I've been taking self-defense classes since sixth grade." Clarisse's expression told me she wanted to know more. "My mom mixed up my application for dance class." Clarisse laughed at me. It was true, but I liked self defense so much I stayed in it.

"What?" I demanded. Clarisse calmed down. I changed the subject. "So how long have you been coming to this camp?"

"A pretty long time now." Clarisse answered. She looked toward her cabin. "I got to get over there. I talk to you later, Dancer." And with that I got a nickname, just not a very good one.

I saw the Hermes cabin make their way out of the forest; Connor and Travis holding up a red flag. They were all cheering. Hermes and Max flew down and started congratulating the winners.

"Did you guys see the way we flanked the guys on the right? We totally owned them!" Connor was yelling.

"Yeah that was so cool." Max was yelling to everybody. "And then the way you two gained up on that really big dude and broke his leg." Max gestured to Lana and Tucker. "Then that girl made all those plants grow and you just cut through them and grabbed the flag." Max was talking to Travis. I stood off a little way I felt out of place since I didn't actually watch the game.

"Hey Armony!" Connor broke from the group and walked up next to me. "How'd you like the game, cool right?" He had a huge smile on his face, but as he smiled I could see a small cut near his temple bleeding, and his brown curls were matted to his forehead with sweat.

"I uh didn't actually watch the game." I said regretfully.

"Oh." He sounded disappointed.

"But hey, at least your dad got to see you guys kick all that butt." I tried to cheer him up.

"Yeah, your right." His smile returned, I began to feel a heat rising to my face. Then I looked at the cut on his head again. I pulled a tissue out from my pocket (which I really hope Mr. D didn't notice that I took a pack of pocket tissues) I put the tissue to his temple to stop the bleeding. "Oh thanks." He muttered his face began to feel warm.

"Connor are you okay, you're hot?" He smiled again.

"Thanks but I see nothing wrong with being hot." I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever, but isn't there a sing along or something tonight?" I asked. We were all standing around in the growing dark, while everyone else had returned to their cabins and were changing out of their armor.

"Oh yeah." Connor ran back to his brothers and sisters and told them to get ready for the sing along. Gradually they broke away from their father and ran to the cabin to change. Eventually, Hermes, Max and I were left alone.

"Well I need to get going." Hermes said. I started to feel sad; he is not your father Armony, I repeated to myself. "I have so many messages I need to deliver."

"Daddy." Max protested. He only got to see his dad once a year so of course he didn't want him to go.

"Don't worry Max I'll see you on your birthday." He winked at Max and gave him a pat on the head. "Armony some advice, concerning this world; always be respectful to the gods you don't want to get on their bad sides, don't ever look at a god in their true form it will burn you to ashes, and take good care of your brother. Oh and don't be mad at your mother she was just looking out for you guys." Suddenly his body began to glow brightly.

"Max, cover your eyes!" I ordered him; he did as I told him. When we uncovered our eyes Hermes was gone. SNAP, I turned around to see Travis and Connor; they had stepped on a twig.

"Hey where'd dad go?" Travis and Connor asked at the same time.

"Messages to deliver." I answered. There looks of disappointment mirrored Max's. "So where is this 'sing along' being held?" I asked. The Stolls just smiled and dragged Max and I toward the hearth and sat us down and left suspiciously. There were already maybe twenty or so campers around the fire, many of them had musical instruments; I assumed this was the Apollo cabin.

"You know you're a bit early." I turned around to see a platinum blonde, dressed in skinny jeans a red jacket and a green shirt. She smiled. She noticed that we were the new campers and introduced herself. "I'm Kayla by the way. I'm in Apollo cabin." Max and I mumbled are hellos. "Well I'll let it slide since you two are new." Then she went back to helping situate her brothers. It was weird Kayla was the only girl in the Apollo cabin.

"Hi there I'm Katie." A brown haired girl in a green shirt and shorts said. "I know who you two are, Armony and Max." She spoke with a very understanding and nurturing tone. Her brown eyes reminded me of dirt, but like in a good way like soil fertile, healthy, and needed to allow things to prosper.

"You-you're that girl that made all those plants grow!" Max jumped up like he had found his new hero. "That was so cool!" Before he was saying how it was cool when Travis had been chopping all those plants down.

"Why thank you Max." Katie smiled; she had a really kind smile. "But the reason I came over here is to warn you two." Her smile vanished. I scrunched my eyebrows together; what was she talking about? "Look I realize since your undetermined that you have to stay in the Hermes cabin but be careful around the Stoll brothers, they can seem like good guys and for the most part they are but, Connor and Travis can be very mischievous." Her warning seemed to come from some kind of rivalry, but when she said Travis' name her voice went up by the slightest pitch. Did she have a thing for Travis?

"Okay, Katie I'll be on my guard but I'll make sure to stay away from Travis specifically." Like I thought, Katie started to blush and tried to stutter a reply but eventually gave up. "You secret is safe with me." She blushed even harder and left.

"What was that about?" Max asked.

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"Hey Armony." Percy appeared out of nowhere. What the hell, did the campers here just like to suddenly appear and say hello? "How's it going?" He asked. I forced myself not to show my irritation.

"Not bad, just sitting here waiting for the sing along thing." I answered. Percy sat next to me, then Max got up from his spot to sit next to Percy. I leaned in Percy mirrored me. "By the way you are Max's new hero." He mouthed an 'Oh' he looked under pressure. "Don't worry you're a good role model." He smiled but still looked a bit discouraged. I guess maybe I shouldn't have told him, I giggled.

"Percy can you do that water thing again?" Max was tugging on Percy's shirt. "Please!"

"What water thing?" I asked.

"Percy can move the water around it is awesome." Max jumped up in his excitement. I hadn't seen him act like this in such a long time.

"Uh sure." Percy looked a little uncomfortable. But he got up and walked to the creek. When he came back he had a bubble of water floating above his hand. That is seriously cool. He moved it around stretching it or breaking it into lots of bubbles. Percy moved his hands a little and changed the bubble into what looked like an hourglass with a stick in it; it began to float over to me. I smiled when I noticed what it was; a violin. He flicked his hands and the bubble burst into mist creating rainbows even in the darkening light. He smiled at our faces.

"Percy that was just the coolest thing I have ever seen." He scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. The rainbows for some reason activated my memory to earlier today. "Percy how do I contact my mom?" He snapped out if his, whatever he was in.

"Well we'll need more light then this." He gestured to the now night sky. "So I'll show you tomorrow, okay?" I nodded but I was disappointed. "But don't worry my mom and Paul have probably explained everything." I could feel the look on my face it wasn't pleasant. "Armony, why are you making that face?" Yes girls love to hear that question Percy. But I explained to him what had happened. My mom had already known about all of _this_ and decided not to tell us, and that Hermes was Max's dad. And that my dad made Hermes promise not to tell me who he was because he wanted me to prove I was his daughter. When I was finished Percy looked at me understandingly. "My mom could see through the mist too." The what? "It's the stuff that keeps the magical things hidden." Oh. "My mom actual married this creep because, his smell hid my smell from monsters. She put up with years of that freak just so I would be safe." Man, his mom was so noble. "But what I don't get is that your dad should claim you. When they said they would grant my wish last year that was included. So every god had to claim the children by age thirteen." He had told me this story already he had turned down immortality to help all the minor gods and demigods. Percy and his mom were such good people.

"Oh well that explains how he's able to claim me or not." I wasn't really sure how that sentence came out. "Because I had already passed my thirteenth birthday when you made that wish, there is no deadline." Wow my dad had to be some kind of lawyer or something.

"Armony I'm sorry." Percy was sincere but I should have been used to this by now. Percy looked toward the forest and called over two people. "Grover, Juniper come sit over here." A satyr, who looked kind of wise considering he looked so young as well and a um… wood nymph, she was petite wore a green dress and sandals and had amber colored hair, they walked over and sat down. "Grover, Juniper meet-"

"Armony and Max." Grover cut Percy off. "I was wondering when you two would get here." Percy looked as confused as I felt. However Max was studying Grover's legs. Grover noticed. "Max it's not polite to stare." Max looked up.

"But your half donkey." Max said. He was never good with his animal anatomy. Juniper and I giggled, Percy out right laughed.

"I'm half goat. Baaa-aaa." Grover bleated.

"Are you sure?" Max asked. I recognized that question. Max smirked he knew, I knew.

"What did you mean you were wondering when we would get here?" I asked. I was curious and needed to change the subject.

"Back in Cloudcroft you guys got attacked by a hellhound right?"

"A what hound?" I couldn't resist.

"A hellhound."

"A what hound?"

"A _hell_hound." This time he emphasized the 'hell'.

"Okay Hellmutt?"

"No a hellhound!" He yelled. I couldn't take it anymore I cracked. I started laughing. He was definitely a friend of Percy's. Even Juniper started laughing but Percy and Grover remained clueless. Max however was studying Grover's tail. Grover just continued with his explanation. "A cousin of mine saw you guys get attacked, he and a few of his friends helped take it down. He told me how you guys distracted the hellhound from that little kid and threw baking soda and vinegar in its mouth." Grover recapped our first encounter with a hellhound.

"You through baking soda and vinegar in its mouth?" Percy asked looking at me. He sounded impressed at our resourcefulness or our stupidity; it's hard to tell with Percy.

"Yeah." Not like I could deny it.

"Baaa-aaa!" Grover jumped his hands on his rear. I looked at Max he smiled innocently at me. Grover turned around on him. "What the Hades Max!" I looked around to see that the hearth was surrounded by a ton more people.

"It's time for the sing along." Kayla announced. The campers sat down. One of the Apollo cabin kids starting playing a lyre. Kayla sang something in ancient Greek the only word I got out of it was Apollo. Kayla had a nice voice but she put too much vibrato in her voice, and sang soprano when she was probably more of an alto. I'm not big in the choir scene but I do know music. The song ended, but one of Kayla's brothers started playing the guitar. It was the opening to Taylor Swift's _Teardrops on my Guitar_. Kayla sang it very well. The rest of the campers just seemed to sway with the music a few of them sang along, mainly just the girls though. I looked at the fire and it was burning a vibrant crimson. The flames were at least two feet high. The song ended and the flames returned to their normal color and size.

Then the music started again this time one of Kayla's brothers sang; it was _Mr. Brightside_ by the Killers. Everyone seemed to know this song and it actually was a sing along, even I at least mouthed the words. The flames burned into a mixture of canary yellow and orange. This pattern continued, Kayla would sing then one of her brothers and so on, most of the songs everyone knew. Kayla's brother Will had just finished singing _Love Lost_ by The Temper Trap which sounded a lot different without the rest of the background music. All eyes turned to Max he had a glowing caduceus floating above his head. Gradually the light dimmed and it disappeared. The Hermes cabin, who already knew he was their sibling, cheered for Max. But the camper's attention had turned to me. In their eyes I saw they were waiting for something I knew would never come; my father would not claim me. I stared at the fire to keep from looking at the campers; the flames had become blue with flecks of green and yellow. Slowly, way too slowly they realized it would not happen and stopped looking at me.

"Alright Campers," Chiron yelled, everyone jumped. No one had noticed how quiet it had gotten. "Time for bed you have an hour before lights out." There were disappointed mumbles but no one protested. The campers left to their cabins. Max and I walked to the Hermes cabin with the Hermes, scratch that; _I_ walked to the Hermes cabin with the Hermes kids. When we arrived Max and I had a surprise waiting for us. All the luggage that we had taken to New York with us was there.

"Armony our stuff." Max said happily.

"Yeah." I smiled. There was a note from mom

_To My precious children,_

_ I'm sorry for keeping all of this from you but I had my reasons. Hermes contacted me after he stopped by Camp half-blood, so I had him deliver your things there. I had tried to protect you but it appears that it is fate that you belong to this world. Please keep each other safe. I love you _

_ Please Armony if you find a boy you like there I would like to meet him. Because let's face it you have a horrible taste in boys. Also Armony don't lose Max, you remember what happened that time we went camping. _

_ Max don't let your sister leave you some where again. And don't steal from the gods you can get in very big trouble; ask Percy. Also no pranks I don't want Chiron contacting me with bad behavior. Do your best._

_Love,_

_Mom_

_P.S. Armony if Hermes gave Max flying shoes do not let him fly without someone with him._

That was just like mom, telling Max not to do the things he'll do anyway and me to introduce her to a boy. One time I go out with drug dealer and suddenly I have bad taste in boys. Max was going through his stuff looking for his pajamas. Then I noticed Connor and Travis looking through my things.

"Hey what do you two think you're doing!" I had my hands on my hips I was livid. Connor and Travis turned around trying to hide my stuff behind their backs. They both looked guilty and had a blush on their faces. "Show me what you took." I demanded I figured they had taken my shaving cream or toothpaste, or something like that to use as a prank; I was wrong. Travis moved his hands in front of him and revealed my blue and white polka dot underwear. I _thought _I was mortified but when I saw Connor holding my red Victoria's Secret thong that is when I was truly mortified. I snatched back my undergarments. "What the hell you perverts?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"It's not what you think Armony we were looking for your wallet." Travis yelled. Connor shot him a glare, for revealing their true motive. I normally am not one for violence but when I find out that someone went through my underwear to steal my wallet, well all bets are off. I punched Travis in the face, he went falling backwards with a trail of blood; oh yeah I broke his nose. After my punch to Travis I whipped my hand to the back of Connor's head. I pushed on his head bringing it downward then I brought my knee up. My knee connected with his nose. Blood was gushing out of their noses; my breath came out in heavy pants.

"Umm well take them to the infirmary." Chris said. He and Robert gathered their brothers and took them out of the cabin. The rest of the boys backed off from me even Max didn't come near me. But Lana, Candace, and Michelle, walked up to me.

"That was pretty cool Armony. Major respect." Lana said, Michelle and Candace agreed behind her. Even though it got me the respect of the girls I still felt kind of bad about breaking their faces.

I tried to sleep but my guilt kept me up. Even though I was trying to stay mad at Connor and Travis; I felt that I had gone overboard. Michelle had said that they had it coming but… I pushed the sheets off of my body, even though I had joked about it earlier I was sleeping in Connor's bed. Candace had called it a 'spoil of battle'. But taking his bed had just made me feel even guiltier. I opened the door as quietly as I could and snuck out of the cabin. The camp was beautiful at night the way the stars shined down on this place made it certain that this place was magical. I looked to the hearth; embers still glowed softly in the night air. To my surprise there was that same young girl I saw earlier poking the hearth.

"Hello." I said.

"Hello, Armony." The girl smiled warmly. Her eyes reflected the fire, looking cozy and warm. A cool breeze blew through the area causing me to shiver. "Sit and warm up for a bit." I sat down with her. I was only wearing a tank top that cut off a little above my belly button and shorts so in seconds I was warm but even as I sat there longer I never grew too hot or too cold.

"What is your name?" I asked. She smiled again, her eyes lit up they were not reflecting the fire they were glowing with fire.

"I am Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth." She continued poking the fire. "You know the harpies are allowed to eat anyone who is not in their cabin after curfew."

"Wait there are harpies?" I asked looking at the trees for a sign of the feathered monsters.

"Yes but you will be safe, you have my guarantee." She looked at me and my fear began to melt away. "But what brings you out so late this night." I hesitated to answer, but she was patient.

"I beat up the Stoll brothers and I wanted to apologize." I blurted out. I figured the goddess was going to reprimand me for my impulsiveness.

"I see" she said quietly. "Well I know about the reason you beat them up. You can be very loud." Hestia chuckled. Now my face started to feel warm. "Go Armony, go and apologize." I blinked and she was gone. I looked around for her but she I couldn't see her anywhere and I was not going into the woods at night. As I approached the Big House I noticed in the moonlight it looked like an ancient Greek Temple. I heard talking as I approached the infirmary.

"I never expected her to hit us I thought she was going to freak out and get all red." Travis said; his voice was nasally. They were talking about me; should I interrupt or…

"Yeah but I guess we crossed the line." Connor said in the same nasal voice. "But still, no warning."

"When she actually gets some _real_ training she's gonna be fierce." Travis observed. I decided to walk back to the front of the Big House and make a slightly noisier entrance. This time when I got near the infirmary, they pretended to be out cold. I walked closer to their beds and figured I'd act like I didn't know they were awake.

"Connor, Travis are you guys awake?" I whispered. The only reply was steady breathing. "Look, I just wanted to apologize." I said to their _sleeping _forms. "I wish there was a way I could make it up to you guys." They took my bait.

"Well you could always give me a foot massage." Travis said.

"I knew you guys were awake." I said. Connor opened his eyes when he realized I knew he was faking. He took one look at me and shifted to look the other way. I felt the guilt hit me like a wave; he was still mad. "Oh come on Connor I'll do anything I'm really sorry."

"Like I said Armony I'll forgive you for a foot massage." I couldn't say no, I didn't like it when people were mad at me. I walked over to Travis' bed and pulled the sheets away from his feet. I looked at his face, his nose was covered in gauze, he kicked his foot near my hands. He smiled wickedly as I took his foot, lucky for me he had showered after Capture the Flag so his feet were clean. As I massaged he moaned with pleasure. "Armony you are really good at that. Where'd you learn to give such good massages?" He said it like I was giving him _something else_ but I tried not to let it annoy me.

"I dated a guy whose family practiced reflexology." I said. Derek he had always offered to give me foot massages, which I found odd. I had asked his mom to teach me a bit about reflexology, that's when I found out he was trying to get me in _the mood_. I dumped his ass. When I finished Travis had a dreamy look on his face. "So you forgive me?" I asked. He mumbled something like "Hmmffyah". I took that as a yes. "Okay Connor is there anything I can do for you so you'll forgive me?" He kept his body turned away from me.

"A favor."

"What?" I barely heard him.

"I'll forgive you for a favor." He repeated louder.

"Okay." I smiled. "What favor?"

"I'll tell you when I think of it." That was… you know what I don't care that means he forgave me. In my excitement I ran up and kissed Connor on the cheek. I yelled thanks and ran back to the cabin where I actually had a good night's sleep. Except for my dream, I dreamed of two weapons they had three prongs and the middle prong was longer then the handle it looked really weird, but that was all I remembered.

**Connor's POV**

"Shit Will, Could you be a bit gentler." I yelled. Armony had brutally attacked Travis and me.

"What happened?" Will asked. When we didn't answer he turned to Chris. I shot a look at Chris to keep his mouth shut but…

"They were going through Armony's things when they found her underwear." Chris choked back a laugh. Will didn't.

"Ha, you two had it comin'." He prayed to his father. And Travis and my nose began to heal with warmth. "Your noses will start to heal, but you'll have to leave the bandages on for the rest of the night so it'll heal in the right place." With that last parting advice Will left with Chris, and Robert. Hours passed with just us and our broken noses.

"I never expected her to hit us I thought she was going to freak out and get all red." Travis said. Armony looked so dainty I didn't think she was capable of that much brutality. I had figured when we stumbled on her underwear that the worst she would do was blush, and not talk to us for a while.

"Yeah but I guess we crossed the line. But still, no warning." I was seriously shocked. She kneed me in the face. That was the closest my face had ever gotten to a girl's thigh and now I never wanted to get that close.

"When she actually gets some _real_ training she's gonna be fierce." Travis noted. He was right after some training she would be an amazing warrior or a scary one. I heard footsteps. "Connor did you hear that?"

"Yeah." I answered. Whoever it was sounded clumsy. We faked sleeping. After years of pranks we got pretty good at it.

"Connor, Travis are you guys awake?" Someone whispered. I knew that voice; Armony. I wanted to wake up but how uncool would it be to 'wake up' and admit we were faking. "Look, I just wanted to apologize." I figured she was practicing for when we were awake. "I wish there was a way I could make it up to you guys." It sounded like she was sincere.

"Well you could always give me a foot massage." Travis said, crap he was supposed to pretend he was sleeping we could have gotten more of an apology then that.

"I knew you guys were awake." Crap. I opened my eyes. To see Armony in a tank top that showed her stomach and short shorts she looked incredibly sexy. Then I remembered the thong I had picked up, and a red lace bra the thong had been under. Then my mind put Armony in _that,_ crap. I don't mean to be conceited but the thought was giving me a big problem down there. I turned on my side so I wouldn't have to look at her. "Oh come on Connor I'll do anything I'm really sorry." Lots of thoughts raced through my mind at 'anything'.

"Like I said Armony I'll forgive you for a foot massage." Travis called her attention from me; thank you Travis. I heard Armony walk over to Travis' bed and sheets ruffling. Then Travis moaned. "Armony you are really good at that. Where'd you learn to give such good massages?" He said it like she was giving him something way better than a foot massage.

"I dated a guy whose family practiced reflexology." She said, she actually sounded kind of regretful. I wondered how the relationship ended. "So you forgive me?" She asked Travis.

"Hmmyeah." Travis kind of replied. She turned her attention to me.

"Okay Connor is there anything I can do for you so you'll forgive me?" I didn't dare look at her. My problem was getting less pressing, but I didn't need a repeat.

"A favor." I decided. That would have to work.

"What?" She didn't hear me.

"I'll forgive you for a favor." I said louder.

"Okay, what favor?" She sounded like she really wanted me to forgive her.

"I'll tell you when I think of it." I couldn't actually think of anything right now. Armony kissed me on the cheek, said "Thanks." And then she left. My mind kept racing with possible 'favors' I could ask. Damn you hormones.

**Chapter four done. Kind of perverted I know but teens, hormones and perversion go so well together. Next Chapter Armony starts her first real day at camp, Will she survive?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

_Ch.5 I learn to fight like a Ninja Turtle_

"Wake up Armony, we need to get ready." Lana was shaking me. "Come on you don't wanna be late today you actually get to train today." Yeah she was giving me a good argument for getting up. "You know the guys get all sweaty and take off their shirts." Lana said convincingly. I peaked at Lana from under the covers. She had her hands on her hips with a smirk on her face. Candace and Michelle had already left.

"Alright I'm up." We grabbed our toiletries, towels and clothes to change into. Lana had grabbed a baggy shirt and cargo shorts; I grabbed a red t-shirt and jeans to change into.

"Lucky for us since we captured the flag last night we get the first shower time." The girl's bathroom was basically a locker room, going right lead to the toilets, and going left lead to the showers. The showers were on either side of a hallway, five on each side, a bench in the middle of the hallway gave us to place to put our things. At the end of the hallway was an open fogged window. Lana walked to the window and closed it. "The first cabin to shower closes the window, and the last cabin to shower opens it to let out steam. Besides that, there are no other rules besides when you shave your legs make sure you pour in some Draino if the draining is slow." I nodded. Then we showered.

**After showers**

Lana and I walked to the Mess Hall. While walking, I noticed that people were whispering to each other, it looked like some gossip had gotten around.

"Armony wait!" A voice from behind me and Lana yelled out, causing us to turn around. Katie ran up to meet with us. "Armony are you alright? I heard what had happened last night, I'm so sorry but I warned you about them." Katie seemed concerned. Then I realized what she was talking about, I could feel the blush coming to my face.

"Katie what are you talking about?" Lana asked. She looked like she had realized something I hadn't.

"Please Lana don't act so clueless they are your brothers after all." Katie spat at Lana. "I heard how Travis and Connor had tried to take her clothes off and take advantage of her so she beat them up." What the hell! They hadn't tried that. My face really started to warm up.

"They did not try to take her clothes off!" Lana defended. People started to look at the scene Katie and Lana were making. Wait why didn't she say deny that they had tried to take advantage of me? Luckily Katie didn't notice.

"Oh yeah, like I'm gonna believe you." Katie shouted. Lana looked like she was ready to punch Katie out.

"Armony hold my earnings." Lana reached to her ear, pulling the stud out of her ear. I couldn't let them fight.

"Wait stop!" I yelled with as much force I could muster. "Katie they didn't try anything like that." I said trying to quell the situation. I took a deep breath trying to keep myself from blushing while I explained. "Connor and Travis had been looking for my wallet when they discover my underwear, I just overreacted." Katie calmed down; she searched my face in case I had been lying. But she believed me, mumbled her apology and left to breakfast. "Well that was fun." I said sarcastically. I looked toward the Big House. "Maybe we should stop by and see how Connor and Travis are doing." I gestured to the Big House.

"Alright but you don't need to feel so guilty Armony, they had it comin'." I guessed she was right besides they had already forgiven me.

We walked into the infirmary to find Connor and Travis changing. "Ahem." I cleared my throat. Travis and Connor were both dressed in orange Camp Half-blood t-shirts with jeans. Did they dress like that on purpose? "Hey guys we just wanted to see how you were doing."

"A lot better now that our noses are healed." Connor said. I narrowed my eyes he had already said he had forgiven me. He just smirked.

"Yeah a lot better, but especially better after your visit last night Armony." Travis just smiled. "What you did felt _so_ good." Lana's eyes went wide; she looked from me to Travis to Connor.

"No, Lana I didn't do anything" I tried to explain.

"Don't be so modest Armony, it was the best I ever had." Travis winked at me. Lana just walked backwards out of the infirmary.

"What the hell, Travis?" I yelled and punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow." He faked injury. "I was just playing. Now go and explain to Lana before your character becomes besmirched." I wanted to yell at him but the situation this morning was fresh in my mind. I ran out to explain to Lana. But not before I heard:

"So how was the foot massage last night?" Connor asked.

"Like I said, the best I ever had." Travis answered. I was gonna kill Travis.

I had gotten to Lana before she could tell anyone what she heard, and explained. When I finished explaining she laughed at me. "Girl, we have got to work on your guilt issues." We walked to the Mess Hall and ate our breakfast, with the rest of the Hermes cabin excluding Connor and Travis. I looked at my brother, whose head was wet, which normally it wouldn't have been; Max is greatly opposed to taking showers.

"Max did you take a shower?" I sniffed his head it smelled like shampoo.

"No." He answered. I looked at Chris, who was listening.

"Percy made the water float and catch him. While he was in the water, we scrubbed him down." I looked over at the Poseidon table Percy was eating his pancakes with his brother, Tyson. He caught me looking a mouthed a thank you, he just nodded.

"It was kind of cool actually." Max said.

**After Breakfast**

When we finished breakfast, Hermes cabin returned to find Travis and Connor in the cabin, with a clipboard.

"We get to inspect the cabins this morning." Connor said.

"And I think Hermes cabin gets four and a half stars since someone didn't make their bed." Travis pointed to Connor's bed.

"Hey I didn't even sleep here last night." Connor defended. I walked to the bed and straightened up the sheets.

"Sorry about that." I said quietly. Travis left laughing at some inside joke, Connor just looked confused. Max and I sat back as the rest of the cabin pulled out a few of their things for the day. "Do we need to get anything?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Um if you have a pair of gloves I would wear them. Blisters can be a pain." Candace answered. Luckily I did have a pair of leather gloves. I pulled the gloves out of my bag. I slipped on the familiar leather. My hands felt good to be in them again. I had once gotten really into Free Running and the gloves saved me from lot of bad situations.

"What do we do first?" I asked.

"Hermes Cabin gets to fly the Pegasus this morning." Robert answered me. "I hope you didn't eat too much or it might all end up on the ground." Oh great.

The stables were just like I had seen them before except now the Pegasus were out in front with riding gear. There were ten Pegasus; all of them were white except for the one black Pegasus, Blackjack. Percy was in charge of the stables. The stables had a 'you must be this tall' sign and Max didn't make the cut so he sat out on a bench watching. "No fair I already rode a Pegasus before." He mumbled in protest.

"Alright everyone please line up next to a Pegasus, I will explain a bit about how to fly, you will fly for five minutes then land and the next person in line will fly. I will be flying on Blackjack so if anyone needs help I will see what I can do." Everyone scrambled to get next to a Pegasus. I ended up fifth in line to ride, a mare named Snowday. "Now mount your Pegasus." Percy demonstrated. "Grab the reins and go!" Percy and Blackjack took off in a run, Blackjack started to flap his wings and flew off. It was actually one of the coolest things I had ever seen. Blackjack flew as elegantly as any bird maybe even more so.

The first round of campers mounted their Pegasus but only two of them made it off the ground…and into trees. The second round were luckier, or unluckier depending on how you looked at it, they all made it off the ground but four of them hit trees, the others crash landed after five seconds of flight. The third round however, everyone made it into the air and all but one landed perfectly. And it was the same with the fourth round of campers. Next came my turn, I had noticed that Snowday had been pretty temperamental with the campers, I got on her back. I wasn't sure if this was gonna work or not but, what could it hurt? "Snowday I've never flown before so I'm trusting you." Percy gave the signal and Snowday took off, if I had not been holding on to the reins I definitely would have fallen off. She began to flap her wings and was in the air in no time. The rush of wind and the sense of weightlessness and the fear of dropping, it was the scariest thing ever and one of the best. The adrenaline rush cleared my mind and everything I could see, feel, smell and hear was just so much better. Then things got weird.

_"You are the first camper to trust me to do the flying."_ A voice spoke in my mind.

"Who said that?" I yelled but my voice was lost to the wind.

_"Me."_ The voice spoke again.

"Me who?" I asked.

_"The one you are riding."_ Oh my gods, I was talking to a horse.

"But how am I able to hear you. I mean I know Percy can hear horses." He had explained it on my first visit to the stables. "But I'm not a daughter of Poseidon (well I don't actually know) so how?"

"_When I was younger I asked the late god Pan to grant me a wish. I had wished to be able to communicate with humans however I would only be allowed to speak to a maiden who trusted me with her safety."_ Snowday sounded really happy.

"Well I'm happy I was able to help." Snowday showed her appreciation, by flying incredibly high; I shut my eyes as tightly as I could when I looked down.

_"Open your eyes trust me you will not be disappointed."_ I did as she said I opened my eyes and she was right. I could see the entire camp, the strawberry fields, the lake, the river, the cabins, and most beautiful; the sea. The sea sparkled with the sunlight; it looked like the lights were dancing on the water. I couldn't help but smile. _"I told you so."_

"Thank you so much Snowday. It's so beautiful." I'd say it took my breath away but looking at everything made me want to breathe; to take in this wonderful sight. "Snowday, why did you want to communicate with humans?" I asked.

_"So I could show someone what I just showed you; the joy of flight."_

"Oh, well thank you. Also how old are you?" The god Pan had been dead for thousands of years." Snowday neighed in protest, and since I was flying hundreds of feet in the air I was not going to push it. "Do you want me to tell the rest of the campers to trust you so you can speak with them?"

_"No they must come to trust me on their own. But thank you. Come fly with me another time." _We landed softly on the ground. Percy was on the ground with Blackjack. I looked around and the only people left were Percy, Max, Lana, and I.

"Do you realize that you flew for the entire activity time?" Oops. Snowday walked up to Percy, and I think she explained I'm not really sure. "Alright, we both have weapons training now and Clarisse is in charge so I suggest we hurry." Percy and Lana basically ran while Max and I walked more calmly. We made it to the arena for weapons training to hear clashing of swords and grunting. Clarisse turned to see our arrival.

"Took you guys long enough to get here." She yelled, annoyed. "Percy you and Lana pair up I'll teach Dancer personally." Percy looked at me questioningly at 'Dancer' but I shrugged him off. Max followed me.

"What about me?" Max asked. I looked down at him; even if it was to defend himself from monsters I wasn't sure if I wanted Max to be using weapons.

"My brother Tom should be giving a demo on knife fighting." Clarisse looked around, and yelled at a big guy flirting with a girl with dark brown hair and pink highlights. "Tom get back to teaching those kids how to fight." Her brother glared at her and returned to his job. "Alright Dancer now we've already established that you can fight hand to hand but let's see if you can fight with a sword." Clarisse grabbed a sword and tossed it to me. She had me copy her stance, she attacked I blocked but the sword flew from my hand. "Well that was…"

"Anti-climactic." I finished for her. I grabbed the sword again but something didn't feel right. After a few more practice 'fights', Clarisse moved me into what she called the 'correct position' and looked at me with a discerning eye. She shook her head and replaced the sword with a spear. "Thrust the spear." I did as she ordered. "Better but it still doesn't work for me." Work for her, I was the one who would have to fight with this thing. Clarisse frowned like she was trying to figure out a riddle. "Clarisse what are doing?"

"I'm trying to figure out what weapon it best for you." She continued to frown.

"Why?" I asked. I mean wouldn't training me to use a sword be good enough?

"Well looking at you with a sword just doesn't seem right, and your fighting style doesn't support a sword." It all seemed to make sense to her.

"What do you mean my 'fighting style'?" I didn't really understand a word she was saying. Well technically I understood the words just not what she meant as a whole.

"See a person's fighting style is what decides, how well they will use a weapon, or how easily they will learn the techniques of their weapon of choice." I gotta admit she was losing me. "What I learned from our little battle is that you prefer to stay out of a fight, I figured that from when you used your knuckles to make me back off. I also learned that you prefer to use your entire body when in close range combat, when you tried to kick me. And I also figured that you use tricks when you fight to keep your opponent off guard and give yourself an advantage, from the way you twisted out of my grip." Color me impressed, Clarisse was able to figure out my entire 'style' just from three moves. I guess it makes sense since she is the daughter of the god of War. She started pacing the ground.

"Well what size of weapon do you think I would use." I asked, hopefully I was being helpful.

"Something smaller, that way when you fight someone you can use the rest of your body to your advantage." Clarisse answered me. This was slowly starting to make sense.

"So like a knife or a dagger." I suggested. Clarisse shook her head.

"No, knives and daggers are too straightforward. Your style would implement trickery." I was starting to like Clarisse more, usually when it got out that I used tricks in my fights people normally called me a cheater.

"Thanks." I said as sincerely.

"For what?" Clarisse looked at me confused.

"One for helping me choose a good weapon, and two for not looking down on me for using tricks when I fight." She nodded.

"I would never look down on someone who fights like that; we are here, at this camp, to learn to survive and those tricks can help you survive." Clarisse was cool I'm not sure why people didn't like her. "I might get mad when people use them on me however." She whispered that last part.

"Clarisse last night I had a dream about a weapon with three prongs." I said.

"A weapon with three prongs, like a triton," She thought about the idea. "But something so long and with such a heavy head would throw you off balance." She shot down the idea. I pictured the weapon in my head and drew it in the dirt.

"Clarisse it looked like this." I said pointing at my dirt drawing.

"A sai?" She looked surprised then started to think about it. So did I, where had I heard sai before. "Yeah a pair of sai would be perfect for you."

"What's a sai?" I asked. Then is hit me. "Wait do you mean like Raphael uses?"

"The Ninja turtle?" Now I know she was surprised. "I would have used Elektra or at least Mileena from Mortal Kombat as an example but yeah." She looked around and noticed that we had wasted our time figuring out a weapon for me to use. "Crap we ran out of time. Tomorrow I'll get us some zai **(the plural form of sai) **and well practice with them. Dancer you better be prepared to work tomorrow." To tell the truth I wasn't feeling great about tomorrow. I followed Lana to our next activity, Archery. Chiron was there in his full centaur glory.

"Campers please take a position in front of a target." We did as Chiron told us, passed to each of us a bow and arrows. "Now walk to the marker and begin your practice." Again we did as we were told. The girl next to me had been in my last activity too, I recognized the pink highlights. She was muttering something under her breath she was concentrating, eyes closed. When she finished she looked at me surprised.

"Oh, hello." She said. "I'm Lilith counselor of the Hecate cabin. And you are Armony." She smiled she looked nice but also predatory, like Shamu. "It nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." I echoed. "I was wondering, what did you just do?" She looked kind of excited to explain.

"Allow me to show you." Lilith notched the arrow on her bow, pulled back and released. The arrow flew at the upper layers of the target but suddenly it curved and hit the bull's-eye. I giggled. "You just curved the bull." She didn't recognize the joke. "What I did was cast a spell on the air around the bull's-eye, that creates a vortex that sucks the arrow and make it hit the target." She smiled proudly. Man magic was cool.

"Wow that is awesome." I said.

"Thanks, but don't tell Chiron." I nodded and began my archery practice. I placed the arrow and pulled back the string. The arrow kept sliding down the bow so I had to use my index finger to keep it still. I took aim at the center of the target and released the arrow. It hit about three layers above the center and to the left. I bit the bottom of my lip and took a notice of where my arms had just been, I adjusted my body accordingly. I notched another arrow pulled back and released. This time I hit the center dead on. My next few arrows each hit the bull's-eye every now and then I would have to realign myself but I was all out of arrows. I looked back at the target only three arrows out of my fifteen had gone astray. "Not bad" I told myself.

"Not bad at all." Chiron said behind me making me jump. He ignored my jump. "Most first-timers miss and then over compensate. But you corrected your trajectory perfectly. And your form is quite good as well." How long had he been standing there?

"Uh thank you. I just find archery very calming it is very easy to think." Chiron studied me for a second.

"Armony how do you hold the arrow when you aim?" Chiron asked.

"I hold it with my index finger. Why?"

"This time I want you to point to where you want the arrow to go and also keep both eyes open." He gave me his advice and an arrow to use. I readied my aim and pointed at the target and kept both eyes open. I shot the arrow. And the coolest thing happened my arrow split another arrow (that was in the bull's-eye). I was so surprised all I could do was stand there and smile mouth opened wide. "Very good Armony, I think you may have mastered archery." Was all Chiron said and he left. But I was totally excited I turned to Lilith but she didn't seem too happy.

"Wow Armony I guess you don't have to use magic." I'm not sure if she meant it to come out so mean but it did. I continued my archery in silence. When Archery was finished Chiron ushered us to the obstacle course.

"I hope the obstacle course is fun." Lana said.

"Have you never done it before?" I asked her.

"No it's new, Connor and Travis…are…in…charge." The look of fear on Lana's face was creeping me out." One thing I learned was that Connor and Travis are the most notorious pranksters and it was not above them using the obstacle course for their own amusement. When we arrived at the obstacle course I couldn't see anything, the course was hidden in a maze. Travis and Connor were standing on top of a tower next to a covered something.

"Alright campers!" Travis yelled.

"Welcome to the first obstacle course of your doom." Connor yelled out too.

"Now you will be granted one shield and one sword, for defensive purposes."

"You will also need to pair up. First pair to the end of the course wins and gets a fabulous prize."

"However there are many traps and other surprises hidden in the Maze so be careful." I looked at Lana to ask her if she would be my partner but when I turned to ask her she was gone. But Max was beside my side. He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the starting line. "Campers ready." Travis yelled.

"Set" Connor yelled.

"Go!" They yelled at the same time. The campers ran forward into the maze. I had no idea what to expect but I had to keep my guard up, and find away to keep from getting lost. Max whispered a plan in my ear, and reluctantly I agreed.

"_Maia_." Max said his shoes grew wings and he began to fly. "Armony I'll fly up and look for the way out." Something was wrong though, it shouldn't be this easy. As Max flew above the wall I heard creaking and something like gears turning. Before I could even yell out to Max a net shot at him and tangle him up. Connor flew in with his winged shoes and grabbed Max.

"Sorry, no flying, that's cheating." Then Connor flew off with Max. He is so gonna get it. Connor had just made me very mad and he was going to regret it. I threw down the shield and sword, both were going to be too heavy for what I was about to do. I pulled my gloves on my hands making sure they weren't going to slip on my hands. Then I took off into a run.

I was going to treat this maze like Free Running. I ran at the wall in front of me and pushed off with my foot, luckily the walls were only ten feet high. I propelled myself up the wall and grabbed the top. The walls were like a foot thick so there was plenty of room to sit on it. I heard the gears going again. I turned toward the sound; Travis was sitting at a launcher thing. He waved 'hi' and shot a net at me. I leaned backwards, my head against the wall as the net flew by. I got up and stood on the top of the wall. The last time I had done something like this was two years ago on a four inch wide piece of wood, so the extra room was appreciated. Travis was trying to reload his net launcher while Connor was guarding Max, who he had placed in a cage.

"Connor you better let him out of that cage!" I yelled. I was seriously pissed. I can't believe I let him get kidnapped again. It looked like he and Max were having a conversation because he didn't say a word. And that made me even more pissed. I ran at Connor and Travis' tower thing. Travis shot another net at me I ducked out of the way. When I made it close I jumped onto his tower thing.

**Connor's POV**

"Go" We yelled. Travis and I had planned everything there was no way anyone could get through our maze. We had developed all the traps perfectly, dart shooting walls, pressure sensitive triggers, large rolling boulders, mud slides, random holes in the ground, some covered others not, it had it all. The only sure fire safe way to get out of the maze was to climb over the walls and we had that covered too. Already I could hear a few of the traps being triggered. "_Maia_." I took to flight. "Travis I'm gonna watch some of the carnage." I flew over the tops of the walls when I saw Max flying over the wall. I was about to yell to Travis but he had already seen our little brother. The net went flying and tied Max up. I flew over and grabbed the bundle that was Max. I looked and saw Armony. "Sorry, no flying, that's cheating." I said, it actually wasn't against the rules to fly but it's not like she could fly. I flew back to our tower to place Max in the 'penalty box' which was really just a cage.

"You're gonna get it now." Max said smugly. "Look." He pointed at the part of the Maze I had just seen Armony in. "Armony doesn't like it when people kidnap me." Armony had climbed up and was now sitting on the wall. Travis and I both stood there dumbfounded, how the hell did she climb the wall. Max guessed at our thoughts and answered our unspoken question. "Armony got really into Free Running to impress this guy." I looked at Max he was serious. "It didn't end well he touched her booby and she beat him up." That last part snapped me back to real life.

"Travis!" I yelled.

"Got it." He waved to Armony and shot a net at her. She leaned backwards, and the net flew over her. She stood up and actually looked comfortable on top of the wall. Max explained again.

"She also used to be in gymnastics." He said proudly. Travis readied another net. Oh my gods she looked pissed.

"Connor you better let him out of that cage!" Armony yelled. Then I remembered something.

"Max did you get kidnapped before?" He just smiled innocently as Armony jumped onto our tower. Travis jumped bak from the launcher next to me. She cracked her knuckles. "Armony can't we talk about this?" I asked trying to calm her down. She smiled.

"You were right Max they fell for it." Armony looked at Max who had picked the lock on the cage. She then turned her attention to our net canon. "You know this is a really cool canon, launcher thing." She said. What was she doing I couldn't tell but something was off. Armony moved quickly she turned the launcher on us and shot a net. The force shot us backward off of the tower. But Max had caught us and slowed our decent to the ground. Max flew off and Armony continued to run over the tops of the walls.

"Shit." Travis cursed. "They tricked us." Thanks for pointing out the obvious. "I can see why you have the 'hots' for her." My face began to heat up

"Wait what I do not." I protested. "She's just really…"

"Yeah like I thought; you have a crush on Armony." He said again.

"I do not!" I yelled but there is no fooling your brother.

**Hoped you liked it, if you're wondering why Armony dated so many people well last night I saw Scott Pilgrim vs the World (which by the way is actually pretty good) wait that has nothing to do with this, (I'm really just purposely wrighting this extra stuff so I can reach over 5,ooo words. Which I did, YEAH! Anyway the dating is a lot of trial and error until she meets the one. By the way check out the drawings I want to see what you guys think. Message or review me what you think you'll do winner will win me telling them that they're right.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 I hope you like it. Did anyone see the preview for the next Make it or Break it cause OH MY GODS! Any way… Chapter six was kind of hard to get out, would the Muses please have mercy on me.**

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

_Ch. 6 I meet a very angry girl._

Max and I made it to the end of the obstacle course pretty easily, after we dispatched of Connor and Travis. I ran across the wall top while Max flew. As we made our way to the end I looked down to see many of the campers in traps, random holes, and steel nets, stuck to walls. When Max had told me about his plan I honestly didn't trust it. Max had figured that the best way to make it through the maze was to go over it but Max also figured that Connor and Travis would expect that campers would try to go over. So Max would fly over to try and find a safe way out and if Connor and Travis tried something it would allow us to figure out there defense against going over the maze. Having my little brother as an ally is very good thing.

We stood at the finish and waited for about ten minutes before we realized that no one else was coming. "Wow I guess everyone else fell into traps." I observed.

"Yeah, should we help them?" Max asked.

"No." It seemed harsh but I had my reasons. We were tired there was no way we'd be able to help anyone without falling into a trap ourselves. "But we should probably free Connor and Travis so they can get everyone out of the maze." Max nodded and we walked _around_ the maze to where we had left Connor and Travis. They were still tied up, wiggling to get free. Max and I stood over them looking down. "Need some help?"

"Yes…" Connor answered. Max pulled out his knife, (note to self take that away from him) and cut the net binding Connor and Travis.

"I think we won." I smiled they nodded at the same time, seriously do they practice that or what? "So, what is our prize?" Their expressions changed from surprise to guilt.

"Uh…we don't have a prize." Travis said sheepishly.

"We didn't think anyone was actually gonna get through." Connor explained. I narrowed my eyes I looked to Max. He nodded, we had the same thought.

"Then you guys owe us whatever we want." Max said for us both. Travis and Connor had promised a prize without actually getting a prize so I figured naming whatever we wanted would be fair. They were about to protest when Max spoke up again with his demand-s. "I want a can of spray paint, a green laser pointer and a prism, and three garden gnomes." Max listed his demands, Travis and Connor looked at him like he was crazy. Then I realized what Max had just asked for.

"Max you cannot ask them for that." I was shocked. Connor and Travis did owe us something for winning but not all that and I was not letting them get him spray paint. Max misunderstood me.

"Also Armony wants some string, matches, Orchata and a new swimsuit." Okay Max was right about the Orchata, but what was with the string, and matches? I was about to rebuttal Max's demands when Travis spoke up.

"Fine we'll get you what you want." Connor looked at him like he was crazy as well. "Well you guys better get going the next activity is starting soon." I looked at Max and he smiled innocently. Our prize negotiations were over.

"Shouldn't you guys free all the campers?" I asked. Something told me if I didn't remind them of the campers that they would forget or leave them there on purpose.

"Oh yeah." Connor said. Max and I left for our next activity. Normally when I think arts and crafts I think bead necklaces, lanyards, and painting, not anvils, hammers, fire, and weapons. Tons of guys were hammering at glowing metal, the clinks of hammers and the roar of flames, were pretty much the only things you could hear.

"Max!" Tyson yelled. Max ran up to him and the two did some kind of handshake/high five thing. "I'm happy you came."

"Yeah, I wanted to see you make some more stuff." Max told him. At that Tyson grinned hugely, and then he spotted me he ran forward and hugged me tightly.

"Thank you for letting Max come and watch." He was started to bruise my ribs.

"Yeah, no problem." I squeaked out. When he finally released me I silently thanked whatever god that put an end to his hug. Tyson was a very friendly, good Cyclops, just really strong.

"Tyson can you make me a knife?" Max asked him. Tyson seemed to get even happier.

"Yup!" Tyson returned to the forges and five minutes later came back with a small package wrapped in cloth. "Here." Tyson smiled as Max unwrapped his present. I knew what it was, and I did not support Max having weapons, but they both looked so happy I couldn't rain on their parade. With the cloth gone, a bronze knife was revealed. It was beautiful. The sun would strike its surface and the knife would send rays of golden light reflecting off. I looked closer at knife and I could see Max's name engraved onto it.

"Wow Tyson it's beautiful." I said my eyes never left the knife. Max had started playing with it. Tyson was appreciating the praise. But then I realized Max would end up taking it with him everywhere he went, even to school. "Tyson thank you for giving that to Max but we aren't allowed to take knives to school." His face went from being shocked to disappointment, to thoughtfulness.

"I can fix that." He said all smiles again. Honestly I wasn't too happy about where Tyson was taking this. He called Max back and Max reluctantly gave him the knife back. "You wanna watch us make some more things?" Tyson asked me. I looked past him and I could see some of the guys taking off their shirts.

"Yeah totally." Tyson smiled, but Max looked at where I was staring and he frowned. However we still went to watch some weapons being made. And that is how I spent like two hours.

**Later**

The guys from the forge were mostly from the Hephaestus Cabin. They were really nice. The Hephaestus Counselor Jake Mason was pretty cool he even gave me a tutorial on how to smelt metals together. I also met this guy named Malcolm he had stormy grey eyes and blonde hair, which was a nice combination in my book. He was really cute, he had been making something (when he tried to explain it I got lost looking at his eyes) but when he caught me staring he had hit the hammer on his thumb. Luckily Kayla had the same idea I had and had been in the vicinity, she healed his thumb and he was fine. Arts and craft time ended and the forges flames began to die down.

"So, now what do we do?" I asked Malcolm. He seemed taken aback at the 'we' part. I tried to correct myself. "Since the forges are closed, what else is there to do?" He regained his composure.

"Well right now we get to use the beach so…would you like to go?" He said a little awkwardly. I smiled, gods he was cute. Oh crap I didn't pack a swim suit. I figured mom and I would buy one while we were in New York but that never happened.

"Sure but I don't have a swim suit." I said.

"You can get one at the Camp Store." Malcolm said.

"Oh that's perfect. Thanks." I said we started walking to the cabins. While we walked we talked about just random stuff, turns out Malcolm was a son of Athena, and liked architecture…a lot. We got to the Hermes cabin.

"I'll see you at the beach." Malcolm waved his goodbye. I entered the cabin and went to my stuff. I pulled out my violin case and opened it; I used my nails to grab the sides of the secret compartment and pulled out my wallet. I turned to leave when I saw Travis and Connor at the door. Gods I hope they didn't notice where I kept my wallet. They were holding bags of stuff. I looked and I could see string, matches, and a can of spray paint, a green laser pointer, a prism, and three garden gnomes.

"You guys seriously got us that stuff?" I asked. I had figured they would have gotten Max's stuff but the matches and string too.

"Well you guys won we owed you a prize." Connor answered. They handed me the bags and I looked through them.

"By the way where's my Orchata?" It was the only thing missing. I looked at Travis who had a thin white mustache.

"I got thirsty on my way here." Travis said. Well not many people can resist the temptations of delicious orchata. "But Connor has your swim suit." Connor gave a glare to his brother and pulled an extra bag from behind his back. I looked inside. It was actually alright I figured they would have gotten me something racy.

"Thanks." I said. "Wait who picked it out?" Travis smiled wickedly and Connor, got kind of pink. I decided not to push any further. "Well whichever of you picked it out has good taste." Then I shooed them out of the cabin so I could change.

**Connor's POV**

I still couldn't believe that anyone of all people Armony and Max had beaten our Maze. And I knew we had promised a prize but their-Max's demands were just random. But Armony looked really hot running on the wall and when she bent backwards to dodge that first net. Our Maze had already become infamous so no one came to try it out, so instead Travis and I were looking all over the camp to find what Travis had told them we were gonna get.

"Travis why did you say we would get them this stuff?" I asked.

"Think about it Connor whenever someone gets a whole bunch random stuff don't they usually use it for pranks." I thought about it and he was right.

"So you just said yes so we can see what Max is gonna do with all this stuff." He nodded and grinned that grin that all Hermes kids share.

"Besides this way you can pick out a swimsuit for Armony." He smiled even more mischievously, but my mind went to images of Armony.

When we got to the camp store I went straight to the swimwear while Travis got the other stuff. I looked from suit to suit. To make my decision I ruled out anything that was one piece, or that had unnecessary coverage. I went through tons of bikinis but of course just because I got her a bikini didn't mean she would wear one but I wanted to see her wear it. I went through polka-dots, but I ruled those out when I remembered the last polka-dot clothes that I knew belonged to Armony. I couldn't find anything that I thought Armony would wear. I was about to give up when I saw a purple bikini on a manikin with a purple almost see through cloth thing tide around the bottom half. My brain immediately put Armony in the bikini and I found what I was looking for. I stripped the manikin but my mind was still on Armony.

"Connor what are you doing?" Travis was behind me, watching me undress the manikin.

"I'm getting Armony a swimsuit what else." I said.

"It looks more like your molesting the manikin." He pointed to my hand which was on the manikin's plastic boob. I tried to pull the bikini top off but instead of it coming off easily it pulled the manikin off of its stand and it crashed onto the floor. Travis laughed at me as I rid the manikin of its garments. Then we tried to make a swift exit.

"Ahem!" I loud voice cleared. We froze on our way out. "Connor and Travis Stoll I do believe that you are about to pay for those weren't you?" We turned around to meet the face of Chiron. We both smiled and walked to the checkout desk.

Travis and I walked back to the cabins. Travis was drinking Armony's orchata. "You know you probably shouldn't be drinking the prize." I said. Travis just shrugged as he finished the last of the rice drink. I looked toward our cabin and saw Armony walking with Malcolm. "What the hell is _he _doing with Armony?" I tried to sound nonchalant but it didn't work. Travis and I watched them as they walked I could make out the word beach.

"I think they're planning to go to the beach. Good thing we just got her swimsuit right?" Travis asked, honestly I wasn't happy about giving her, the swimsuit I didn't want Malcolm seeing her in it. We walked to our cabin after Malcolm had left to the Athena cabin. While we entered I noticed that Armony hid her wallet in a compartment in her violin case. Armony looked at the bags in our hands.

"You guys seriously got us that stuff?" She asked. So they weren't even serious about the prizes.

"Well you guys won we owed you a prize." I answered. Secretly I was kind of pissed though, I thought of Malcolm and hid the swimsuit behind my back. We handed her the bags and she went through them.

"By the way where's my Orchata?" She looked a little disappointed.

"I got thirsty on my way here." Travis said. She frowned. "But Connor has your swim suit." I glared at Travis. I gave her the bag and her eyes lit up.

"Thanks." Armony said. "Wait who picked it out?" Travis smiled wickedly and I could feel my face get a bit warmer. "Well whichever of you picked it out has good taste." Then she pushed us out of the cabin. And when she came out…She was wearing a shirt over her bikini.

**Armony POV**

Whether it was Travis or Connor I really couldn't figure it out but they had good taste. The bikini was sexy without being racy and cute without being too innocent. It was a magenta bikini with matching bottoms and a magenta sarong. The sarong was my favorite it was almost see through so my legs would only show if I was standing behind light. I pulled a navy blue shirt over my bikini; I really didn't want to walk all the way to the beach in nothing but my swimsuit. I slipped on my flip-flops and walked out of the cabin. When I walked out Connor and Travis were still outside, Connor looked for some reason disappointed and Travis just looked amused.

"Are you guys gonna walk with me to the beach?" I asked, cause I actually didn't know where the beach exactly was.

"Sure," Connor said. "Just let us get our swimsuits." Connor and Travis walked into the cabin and came back in trunks. Connor wore brown trunks with a turquoise stripe down the sides. And Travis wore black trunks with yellow stripes.

"You look like a bumble bee." I told Travis. He pouted playfully. Connor and Travis and I walked to the beach, or ran for some reason Connor was really excited to get there. We arrived at the beach and honestly it was a gorgeous beach, I had always heard that east coast beaches were rocky but this beach had the softest warm sand. I looked for Malcolm and I spotted him swimming in the water. I waved and smiled and he mirrored me. He swam up to the shore. "Hey Malcolm, how's the water?" I asked, while I asked I snuck a peek at his abs they were not disappointing.

"The water's great, it feels awesome." Malcolm smiled and held his hand out to me to join him in the water. My smile grew larger and I removed my shirt. After the shirt came off I felt eyes on me. Malcolm and Connor were staring at me. I felt my face become warmer; my right hand went to hold my left elbow in an attempt to hide my body. Things just got awkward. Then I realized something.

"Shit, where's Max?" I asked. I looked over the beach in case he had been there. "Fuck I lost Max, again!" I yelled. All because I was too busy ogling some guy.

"Armony I think he was with Tyson after the forges closed." Malcolm said. My nerves calmed down a bit. If Max was with Tyson he would be safe, right? "Don't worry I'm sure he's safe." He tried to assure me.

"Yeah I guess…"

"Armony!" Max's voice yelled out. I turned around to see him he was waving to me in his blue trunks. Then a large black dog was behind him. I could feel my body getting colder. I was frozen I couldn't move. I looked at Connor and he seemed totally okay that there was a gigantic hellhound behindmy little brother. Then I saw Percy and Tyson walking next to the hellhound and _petting it. _What the hell! Max ran up to me and Percy and Tyson and the hellhound walked more slowly behind him. "Armony, I've been looking for you this is Mrs. O'Leary Percy's pet." What the Fuck!

"Hey Armony we wanted you to meet Mrs. O'Leary." Percy said gesturing to the hellhound. Mrs. O'Leary shook her tail furiously and licked me in the face. Now I was covered in dog slobber but Max was okay.

"Hi there Mrs. O'Leary." I greeted the hellhound who gave me a lick in response. I love dogs but I hate the slobber. "Well I'm gonna go swimming now. See ya." I said my bye and ran into the water. And my gods did it feel good, the water felt crisp and cool, and the smell of salt just made it perfect. I swam on my back and looked at the sky the sun's warmth and the water placed my body in the best contrast. Then I was pulled underwater by something grabbing my ankle. The water went into my nose and the salt stung my eyes, panic gripped me as I tried to kick myself to the surface. Whatever was holding my leg released me, my head breached the water and I took a breath of the sea air. I looked to where whatever had grabbed my leg to see Connor come out of the water. "You ass, you scared me." I yelled and splashed him. He just laughed at me. I could feel my face go red with anger and embarrassment. I swam over and dunked him under the water. "Take that." My victory was short lived. Connor pulled me down again. I opened my eyes in the water and saw him smiling. I couldn't help but smile at the look on his face. Then I felt a tug on my arm and my head was above the water again.

"You alright?" Malcolm asked. "I saw you get pulled under the water again."

"Yeah I'm fine." I answered back. I heard loud splashing and looked to see Max and Tyson on fish horse things. Max looked a bit nervous but was smiling nonetheless. "Wow those are beautiful." I said. The horse fishes were pure white and the scales on their tales reflected in rainbow colors.

"Wanna ride one?" I turned to see Percy; he was riding one of the fish horses.

"Yeah, but what are they?" I said looking at the one Percy was riding in the eye.

"Hippocampi." Percy answered. "My dad had sent them to help me out once and Rainbow," He gestured to the Hippocampi that Tyson was riding. "Grew attached to Tyson so they come to visit often." He pulled me onto the back of the Hippocampi he was riding. They swam through water like the Pegasus flew through the air, powerful, and graceful. Eventually though I pushed Percy off so I could ride by myself, the Hippocampi wasn't too happy but it got over it. I was getting tired so I rode back to the shore and rested while the guys swam and played around.

I lay down on the soft sand and soaked up some sun. I closed my eyes and focused on the warmth of the sun I could feel it giving my body energy.

"What are you doing?" I opened my eyes to see a soaking wet Connor. I sat up and got a better view. Connor was unbelievable. He was ripped, he had muscles I didn't even know existed. His chest was well sculpted and his arms were greatly defined. His abs however instead of a six pack were more like an eight-pack. Just looking at his lean body started to make my body feel hot and my face grow warm. "Hey, Armony did you put any sunscreen on, cause your face is red." His words brought me back to earth.

"O-oh it's just the heat. And I'm just sunbathing." I tried hard to gain my composure, I forced myself to stop looking at him and so I looked out to see Max riding the Hippocampi.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked.

"Yeah, go for it." He laid down next to me his hands behind his head. The way the sun glistened off his moist body sent shivers through my body. I shook my head and returned my mind back to normal. I kept sitting up and saw Malcolm wave to me. I waved back and heard Connor make some kind of noise. I looked around and noticed Travis was missing I looked farther down the beach and saw Travis talking to Katie. They looked like they were arguing but I could see in Katie's eyes that she was enjoying his attention.

"Hey Armony come here." Percy yelled. He was waving kind of frantically. I stood up and looked down at Connor one last time before I went to see what Percy was yelling about. As I walked towards Percy I witnessed Lilith being carried by four guys and followed by four others. While Lilith went by I could see the glares of incredibly gorgeous girls following her, it was an easy guess that they were Aphrodite girls.

"What do you want Percy?" I asked when I got up to him. He was wearing a pair of dark blue board shorts with a golden trident on the left leg. I looked up and noticed a very interesting fact; Percy was hot. I was really starting to like this camp. Percy signaled for me to follow him and we walked farther from the beach. Then I realized what direction we were going in. "Percy are we heading back to the cabins?"

"Yup. See I just remembered about how you asked me to show you how to contact your mom and what we needed has just been fixed." I was getting excited.

"Wait, Percy can you please explain what we are doing exactly?" I wanted to do this but a lot of what Percy was saying was going over my head.

"Well see we are going to I.M. your mom." He said.

"So we're going to instant message my mom?" I tried to clarify but it still seemed weird.

"Uh no we are going to Iris message your mom." Still no idea what he was talking about. Luckily he continued his explanation. "See by making a rainbow we can use it to contact your mother."

"Oh." Okay I think I got it that time. We went into his cabin, and it was impressive, bronze Hippocampi hung from the ceiling like they were swimming and there was this fish fountain decorated with coral and water came out of the fishes mouth and made a rainbow. "Wow." Was the only appropriate thing I could think of.

"Tyson just fixed the fountain so now we can send an Iris message." Percy looked at the fountain proudly.

"Okay, but how do we send an Iris message?" He still hadn't explained that. He pulled a golden coin out of the fountain.

"To send a message you must first find or create a rainbow and then throw a golden drachma into it, saying, "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering." Then say who it is you want to see. The way to end an Iris message is to disrupt the rainbow." Then he demonstrated. He threw the drachma into the rainbow of mist and it disappeared. He prayed to Iris and said my mother's name. The rainbow seemed to fluctuate then revealed a scene of my mother playing her cello in our living room. I could hear the music she was playing _Beautiful Dreamer._ The music flowed from the rainbow into the cabin.

"Mom." I said into the rainbow. My mom's head looked up from the cello, and looked around for me, while she still played the cello. "Mom over here." I said my mom looked at me and smiled.

"_Mija_." She stopped playing and moved closer. "Armony, I see you learned how to send Iris Messages." My mom's knowledge of what was happening shocked me. "I haven't been sent an Iris Message in a very long time." My mom said wistfully. "Oh is that Percy?" My mom turned her attention to Percy.

"Hello Miss. Soladad." Percy greeted.

"Now would you mind telling me why you are half naked?" My mom raised an eyebrow. Percy flushed red and stammered out a reply.

"W-we were s-swimming." I looked at my mom she was doing this to Percy on purpose.

"Oh I'm just messing with you Percy but, since I've got you here if Armony shows interest in any boys you will tell me, right?" My mom was actually serious this time.

"Uh-um well…" Percy was incoherent. But my mom took it as a yes.

"Good." Then she turned her attention back to me. "Armony I'm so happy to see you how are you and Max doing?" She returned to her more compassionate self.

"We've been doing well mom, we miss you but the camp is fun." My mom smiled as I went on about camp half-blood. Then I got to the more serious matter. "Mom, Max's dad, Hermes told me that my dad asked him not to tell me who he was, and that I had to prove myself…" I trailed off I didn't want to finish. But my mom could see how horrible I felt.

"Honey I know who your father is but I can't tell you who he is. I think it's better if you don't know who he is. Your father was-is a very good person but he is a god and gods do things that we don't always understand but sometimes we have to trust them." I could feel every part of me breaking and when I looked at my mom I could tell that she was hurt too, which made the pain just that much worse. "He has his reasons for not wanting you to know who he is, and for a while I was okay with that because I wanted to protect you from this world. But realize that just because he wants you to _prove _yourself does not reflect who you are. You are strong, smart, talented, and beautiful and I am very proud of you _mija_." My mom knew just how to make me feel better, now only if I believed her. The door-bell rang and my mother looked back at me. "I'm sorry but I have to go now." She kissed her fingers and waved to me then she disrupted the signal.

I felt better now that I had talked to my mom but I also felt incredibly emotional and I started to cry. Percy hugged me and rubbed my back trying to make me feel better. "Thank you Percy thank you so much." I put my arms around Percy's neck and hugged him back.

"WHAT THE HELL?" I heard a load screamed and turned my head to the cabin door. A blonde girl stood in the doorway her fist balled in anger. Percy and I broke apart quickly. I looked closer and I could see pure anger and hatred in those grey eyes.

"Annabeth?" Percy seemed stunned. But where had I heard Annabeth before. Light bulb! Annabeth was Percy's girlfriend. Oh crap, this was a very precarious situation. I looked at Percy and realized he was about to say exactly the worst thing. "It's not what it looks like." Annabeth screamed and stormed off. Something told me that camp was about to get very interesting…in a bad way.

**Annabeth POV**

This whole trip to Camp has been torture. When Percy's mom had called me and told me that the friends that they had invited to New York had ended up as demigods, I figured that, okay Percy can handle two demigods by himself. Then when she told me that they were an older sister and a younger brother I knew I needed to be with him. He tries not to think about it but whenever he thinks of Bianca Di Angelo's death he still blames himself. I figured that he would try to get these two safely to Camp half-blood to make up for it. But when I arrived in New York, I met Miss Soladad and then I started to worry for an entirely different reason. If Armony looked anything like her mother, I'm not sure how Percy could handle that. Percy is a great guy he's good-looking and brave and strong and **(Annabeth goes on for a while) **so a girl could easily fall for him; I did. When I made it to Camp my worries were only reinforced. I heard from the girls that the hot gossip on Armony was that she and her brother Max both had different godly parents (which isn't all that common) and that there was an incident concerning the Stoll brothers and her underwear. But what made it worse was whenever I asked a guy they would just go on about how hot she is. I made my way to Percy's cabin to see if he was there; and he had company. I opened the door to see some bimbo with her arms around Percy and his arms around her too. He had his shirt off and she was only in a purple bikini. Her boobs were all smushed against his chest and to make it worse they were bigger than mine.

"WHAT THE HELL!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Percy and 'the bimbo' split and for a second I thought I saw Miss Soladad. But then I realized I was right to be worried this was her daughter Armony.

"Annabeth!" Percy was shocked to see me. Then he said the thing that all guys say when they get caught doing something they shouldn't. The most cliché' thing in the world, the only thing that could make this worse, came out of his mouth. "It's not what it looks like." I screamed and stomped off to find something to maim.

**Wow I'm done. Well I figured Annabeth needed to appear soon so I had her appear at a not so good time. Drama isn't it fun?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Welcome to chapter 7 luckily I actually know what was planned for this chapter and all the chapters to come, I'm just not sure how to right the stuff in between. But just enjoy the ride. However school is starting, in fact for me college! So things might really be slowing down. Sorry but bear with me. Also lots of switching between Connor and Armony POVs this chapter, but it's important.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians; However I own all original characters and their situations.**

**Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_Ch. 7 I do something I normally don't_

After my 'meeting' with Annabeth things were not exactly easy. I tried to talk with Malcolm but it turns out that he was Annabeth's brother and she turned the entire Athena cabin against me. And no matter how hard I tried to explain none of them seemed to listen. So dinner wasn't easy, the only thing I looked forward to was sleeping so I skipped the sing-a-long (I don't really sing anyway). I figured after this day it would be better if I didn't where my tank top and shorts to sleep in, so instead I wore a beige silk nightdress. I curled up on the bed and tried to let sleep engulf me.

**Connor POV (I know it's kind of early but…)**

The Sing-a-Long was hilarious. Annabeth and Percy started fighting in the middle of _Should've said No_, Annabeth yelled at Percy because she thought he cheated on her. Percy tried to calm her down but then she just called him a **(insert really big word)**, but Percy lost his patience and yelled at her for being jealous of nothing. They both stormed off to their cabins, so Travis and I started a poll on when they would get back together. Since no one was in a singing mood after the display of _affection_ we all just went back to our cabins. When we got to our cabin I was ready for good night sleep in my bed. However Armony was already fast asleep in it.

"Tough luck Connor doesn't look like you'll have your bed tonight." Chris noted.

"Unless you're okay with sharing the bed." Travis added in. Which I was okay with sharing but Armony on the other hand would probably freak and I did not want to feel her wrath again. So I pulled out a sleeping bag and unrolled it at the foot of _my_ bed got ready for sleep and slept.

**In the morning (Armony POV)**

I woke before everyone else, which was weird. I sat up and looked at the still sleeping cabin. I tried to sleep again but sleep was done with me. I swung my feet over the edge of the bed and met something solid. "Umph." I looked down and noticed I had just kicked Connor. "What was that for?" He said rubbing his head.

"Sorry I didn't know anybody was sleeping on the floor." I apologized.

"Well someone took my bed." Connor said sitting up. "Unless the offer to share is still available." He smirked.

"Sorry Connor I just really wanted to get to sleep." I said ignoring that last part. I stepped over him and gathered my things for a shower.

"Where you headin'?" Connor asked.

"Shower."

"Want some company?" I looked at him, but he hadn't realized what he had said. After a prolonged stare he got it. "I didn't mean like that." He quickly defended.

"I know. I just wanted to see how long it would take you to figure it out." I smiled at his discomfort. "But sure I could use some company." On our way to the showers he told me what had happened at the campfire. He was a hand talker so every detail was emphasized by wild gestures. I walked into the bathroom to be followed by Connor. "Connor, do you realize where you are?" He looked around the restroom, blushed then left. I couldn't help but smile.

When I was finished with my shower I walked outside to see that the camp was still pretty much asleep only a few campers were up and moving. I looked toward the Athena cabin and thought of Annabeth, I knew she was angry and I wanted to apologize I hated it when people were angry at me. I knew what the situation looked like but it wasn't what it looked like (gods that sounded cliché). "What are you looking at Armony?" I turned to see Connor he was only wearing his pants and a towel that was placed on top of his shoulders, gods did he look sexy. I turned my head as quickly as I could to the Athena cabin. "Oh the Athena cabin. Is this about Annabeth?" I nodded I didn't want to look at him until he had a shirt on. "What exactly happened? All I heard was that you and Percy were doing stuff in his cabin. But Percy said nothing happened so…" Connor trailed off. That was what people were hearing about this, great.

"Percy showed me how to Iris Message my mom." I looked at him, I was careful not to look anywhere besides his face. But like in my princess dream, I couldn't look at him for long before I could feel a heat rising to my face. I turned away. "After I was done talking with my mom I was kind of emotional and started to cry Percy just hugged me is all." I tried to sound nonchalant but a part of me was very happy that Percy had been there to help.

"So it really wasn't what it looked like." Connor observed. I nodded, he put his shirt on and we went back to the cabin to put our stuff up. However everyone was still asleep, but while I took my time to put my stuff back into my bag (and Connor waited outside, neither of us wanted a repeat of the underwear fiasco) I heard Travis moan 'Katie'. I left with a knowing smile. Connor and I walked to the Mess Hall and sat down at the Hermes table waiting for the rest of the camp to wake up. "So Max said you learned parkour to impress a guy." Connor said, it was a statement but I could hear the curiosity in his voice.

"No," He looked confused so I explained. "I learned free running to impress a guy." This only furthered his confusion. "Parkour is using your movements and the environment around you to get from point A to point B efficiently, however free running is all about getting there however you want, efficient or not."

"Okay." He sounded unsatisfied.

"What else did Max tell you?" I wanted to know if Max told him something he shouldn't have.

"He said that you also used to do gymnastics." Connor said. Okay Max didn't say anything…. "And that the guy touched your boob." My eyes went wide.

"What was that last part?" Connor remained quiet but I knew what I had heard, I was going to kill Max. "The asshole I tried to impress tried to feel me up." Even two years after it happened and it still pissed me off. "He tried to runaway but I caught him." Connor looked at me wearily.

"Why did you do gymnastics?" I was thankful for the change in subject. I smiled, and that was how we spent our morning until the rest of the camp joined us. Which wasn't too bad, except for all the rumors of how I broke up Percy and Annabeth, and all the glares from the Athena cabin. When breakfast was over I was beyond thankful that I was free to leave to the Pegasus stables.

Snowday was excited too; we went over different flying techniques. The only time I ever touched the ground that whole time was getting on Snowday and getting off. However after our flying fun it was time for sai training with Clarisse.

"Dancer hurry up we don't have all day!" Clarisse yelled. I ran and she brought out a pair of sai. "Dancer when fighting with zai never place your finger in between the prongs, you can use them to capture a sword." Her brother Tom (who was still ogling Lilith) came to help demonstrate. Tom swung down with his sword that Clarisse expertly caught in the prongs of the sai. She then twisted the sai capturing Tom's sword, he tried to pull it back but Clarisse held it too tightly, she then punched Tom with the blunt end of the sai in the chest. He fell back cursing. "That's what you get for flirting instead of training." Clarisse spat at her brother. She gave him his sword back and continued to demonstrate what the sai could do. She handed me the zai and had me hold them correctly. Over and over she had me flip the sai from its defensive position, from where the middle prong rested against my forearm to offensive where I held the handle the middle prong outward. She had me do that for each hand thirty times then both hands at the same time thirty times, and if ever I slipped up I did twenty pushups with the zai then I started all over again. By my third try at perfection I was already sweating. Finally when I had perfected switching she had me flip the sai and swipe at a dummy forty times each hand. If the one sai came out of my hand then I would do twenty sit-ups with the zai and start over. But I never finished this exercise. By the time I would make it to fifteen I could feel my arm muscles beginning to give out, even before I even struck the dummy the sai would fly out of my hand. I was sweating and panting but Clarisse would keep pushing me I didn't even get a chance to protest. "Alright Dancer that is enough for now." Clarisse ended my training I collapsed on the ground I had never been this tired before. "Here." Clarisse handed me a bottle of water I could feel the cold liquid every ounce of my body was screaming for the water. I tried to unscrew the cap but my hands couldn't clasp down on the top. Clarisse noticed my troubles and unscrewed the top for me. I drank the water greedily.

"That was the most work I think I have ever done in my life." I told Clarisse. I silently began to berate myself for being so weak especially since Clarisse was being so nice to train me herself.

"Well I told you to be ready to work didn't I?" Clarisse said back. "Besides mastering a weapon isn't an easy thing." Clarisse looked like she was calculating something. Clarisse looked at me with a discerning eye. Her gaze made me aware of how weak I felt at that moment my arms felt like noodles my body was burning up and I was damp from sweat, and every time I moved my head it would throb and my vision would grow hazy. "Dancer I think you should skip your next activity and go shower it'll help." Clarisse helped me up and I walked over to the showers.

I quickly stripped my clothes off and stepped into the shower stall. I turned the cold water knob all the way to full blast. It took few seconds for the water to move through the plumbing, but as soon as the water shot through the shower head I felt relief. The water was so cold compared to my overly warm body that it sent me into shock. My breath came out in quick pants as I tried to adjust to the temperature. My body instantly reacted with the cold. I placed the stream of water directly over my head and let the water trail from head to toe (literally). Slowly it dawned upon me that I was alone and I decided to do something I never do; I sang in the shower. Singing to most people is no big deal but to me it's incredibly scary whether it's one person or a million who hears me it fills me with terror, to be that open and vulnerable is just terrifying. That is why I only sing when I'm alone.

Dozens of songs entered my mind but I decided to sing one of them.

_As I went down in the river to pray _

_Studying about that good old way _

_And who shall wear the starry crown _

_Good Lord, show me the way! _

_O sisters let's go down, _

_Let's go down, come on down, _

_O sisters let's go down, _

_Down in the river to pray. _

_As I went down in the river to pray _

_Studying about that good old way _

_And who shall wear the robe and crown _

_Good Lord, show me the way! _

_O brothers let's go down, _

_Let's go down, come on down, _

_Come on brothers let's go down, _

_Down in the river to pray._

_As I went down in the river to pray _

_Studying about that good old way _

_And who shall wear the starry crown _

_Good Lord, show me the way!_

I loved _Down to the River to Pray_, I guess it wasn't appropriate now that I knew that the Greek gods were real but it was such a beautiful song. While I stood in the stream I began to think of another song, one by Gloriana, the chorus was beautiful.

_Hold me close_

_Now until forever_

_I'll be unafraid_

_Hold me close_

_Give me back_

_My reason to believe_

_Come and save me_

I loved that song and every time I listened to the chorus for some reason it meant a lot to me. Whenever I sang the chorus I sang it like a prayer, like what I was hoping for might come true. I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower and toweled my body off.

**Connor POV**

_As I went down in the river to pray _

_Studying about that good old way _

_And who shall wear the starry crown _

_Good Lord, show me the way!_

That was the most beautiful singing I have ever heard. I could hear it was kind of quiet but still beautiful. "Travis do you hear that song?" I asked, still listening. Travis and I were re-rigging the traps in our maze; we didn't want to give anybody the chance to memorize any part of the maze. Travis put down a few arrows and listened to the air.

"I don't hear anything." Travis answered back.

"But how can you not hear that voice it's beautiful." The song was quiet but I could hear it clearly.

"Connor I don't hear anything." He looked at me with worry on his face. "Maybe you should go back to the cabin and rest or something, cause you're starting to freak me out." He suggested.

"Uh, yeah." I put down the flame thrower and walked towards the cabin. But the voice seemed to be getting louder.

_As I went down in the river to pray _

_Studying about that good old way _

_And who shall wear the robe and crown _

_Good Lord, show me the way! _

I followed the song as it steadily got louder. The song was coming from one of the bathrooms I followed around back where the song was louder, coming from the open window. I could hear water from a showerhead too but it didn't do anything to hamper the sound of the voice. I stood there listening to the voice, until it finished. All that I could her was the sound of the water. I was about to leave when the voice started again this time it was a different song but the voice sounded even more beautiful like it believed in what it was singing.

_Hold me close_

_Now until forever_

_I'll be unafraid_

_Hold me close_

_Give me back_

_My reason to believe_

_Come and save me_

As the voice sang I wanted to do what it said I wanted to hold it close, and give it a reason, to save it. The water stopped I stood on a root to get a look through the window to see who could have sung so beautifully. I looked through the opening to see Armony; naked and wet…and cold. Armony's entire body was tanned even the parts of her that are usually covered by clothes. Without her clothes I could see every curve of her body; I could now see why girls wanted to have an hourglass figure. Her breasts were…awesome. And she had a tattoo of a music note above her very nice ass. I thought I had a problem before seeing her in her tank top and short shorts but this was way worse (or better depending on how you looked at it) but I was glued to where I was I didn't even want to move…until she saw me. Oh my gods her stomach turns red when she blushes.

**Armony POV**

I was frozen I wanted to move but I couldn't. I had just started drying myself off when I saw Connor. He was looking into the bathroom through the window, which I had forgotten to close. My brain snapped into panic mode; however panic mode is very slow. I began to turn red from anger and embarrassment. Then I finally regained conscious movement of my body. I grabbed my shoe from the bench and through it at him. He ducked and my shoe flew out the window.

"I'm sorry Armony I didn't mean to peak on you." His face appeared in the window opening again.

"Then stop looking you pervert." I yelled trying to cover my body with the towel.

"I'm sorry I just heard really beautiful singing and I followed it." Connor tried to explain. Did he just call my singing beautiful? No, he must have mistaken it with somebody else. But I didn't hear anybody else.

"Liar!" I yelled. But I was losing my anger I wanted to know for sure if he thought my singing was good.

"No, I honestly just followed your singing!" He protested. I tried to think of a way to test him. If he had followed because of what I sang then he would be able re-sing it right?

"Connor just wait there alright?" I was going to test him but I didn't want to do it naked.

"Why?" He looked into the bathroom again.

"Turn around!" I yelled. He complied. "I'm going test you to see if you are telling me the truth." And get a little revenge.

"Okay." I walked to the other side of the bathroom and changed in a toilet stall. When I was finished changing I walked outside. Connor was standing next the door waiting for me. He handed me my shoes. I placed a hand on his shoulder as I slipped one of my shoes on, then the other.

"Alright Connor If you really followed my singing and were not peaking on me then sing what I sang. Right now." I demanded. I had walked us into a more populated area of the camp. He looked around at all the people.

"Armony, please can we do this somewhere else?" He asked.

"Okay, if you won't do it then I'll just go tell Chiron that you're a Peeping Tom." I started to walk toward the Big House, but he grabbed my arm.

"Fine. Oh I went Down to the river," He whispered to me.

"I'm sorry Connor but I can't hear you. Speak up." Or maybe I should have said 'Sing up.' He started to sing louder and everybody stopped to stare or listen. Which Connor honestly wasn't that bad not a professional or anything but not bad. He finished singing. He got a few claps from the crowd but also some boos. The crowd began to make _me_ feel nervous but I couldn't back down yet.

"Am I done know?" Connor asked clearly annoyed with the crowd.

"Now Connor If you did hear what you said you heard then don't you have a second song to sing?" I asked back to him.

**Connor POV**

Okay Armony I see where you're going with this but I will not be made a fool of…more than I already have. If I'm going down, you're going down with me. I tried to get into the mood of the second song. And I sang it _to_ Armony.

_Hold me close_

_Now until forever_

_I'll be unafraid_

_Hold me close_

_Give me back_

_My reason to believe_

_Come and save me_

With each verse I closed the distance between us, until our bodies were only a hair apart. I got a lot of boos from the guys, but more than a few of the girls 'awed'. As the crowd turned its attention from me to us, Armony began to flush red.

"Okay I believe you." Armony looked down at the ground. A few of the girls cheered; they had no idea what this was actually about. Then Chiron came and broke up the crowd and sent us to our next activities.

"Bye Armony." I winked and we parted ways. But the image of Armony was fresh in my mind.

**Armony POV**

That backfired. But at least I knew that Connor was not peaking in on me. Now that I was less angry I began to think more clearly, I mean come on why would Connor want to peak on me? While I walked aimlessly around I saw Lilith being fed grapes by several guys. I waved and she got up and walked over, a few of her male servants tried to follow her but she waved them off.

"Hey, Armony I heard someone broke up the camp's hottest couple." Lilith was all about the gossip.

"Yeah I guess I did." Not like I could deny it, even if I didn't do it on purpose.

"So I heard that you were making out with a naked Percy and were about to pleasure him when Annabeth walked in." Lilith reported her version of the story. I could feel myself go red. "So is it true?" 

"No Lilith that is not true." Her face showed disappointment. "Percy had showed me how to contact my mom, and it got emotional and Percy hugged me. That is all that happened." I was hoping she would understand this and spread it.

"Then why was his shirt off?" Lilith was hoping for more.

"We had just been swimming neither of us had changed yet." I answered.

"That's too bad. Percy is so cute. Well since he and Annabeth are kaput I might as well make him apart of my harem." She looked hopeful.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I asked, I looked back at her love sick toys.

"Well I just wanted a harem so I'm making one." She smiled her shamu smile, friendly and predatory. "Well I let you be off." She wiggled her fingers as a wave, and returned to her male harem.

I walked to the training field. Clarisse was training some younger campers in combat, I looked around and noticed that Malcolm was there too, which meant that Annabeth must be around as well. I walked up to Malcolm, seeing me he tried to walk the other way but I caught up to him.

"Malcolm where's Annabeth?" I asked. He looked around to see if anyone was watching us.

"Armony I don't think it's a good idea if you try to talk to Annabeth." I could see that he was conflicted. He didn't look me in the eye.

"Listen Malcolm what she saw was a mistake and I can't stand it when people are mad at me so please, I need to apologize." I grabbed onto his wrist so he would have to look at me.

"She's practicing her sword fighting with a few of our siblings past those trees." He pointed in the direction.

"Thank you Malcolm." I kissed him on the cheek and ran toward where he pointed. As I got closer the clang of swords became louder until I saw them. Annabeth was fighting a few of her siblings, and she dominated them. Each blow was powerful and tactical; she never made a wasted move. If one of her siblings blocked it would place them into a stance that Annabeth easily took over to disarm them or attack from a different direction. Annabeth was a scary opponent each move was thought ahead of watching her fight was like watching a chess match taken to real life. I really didn't want to talk to her in front of her sibling but there probably wasn't any other way. "Annabeth!" I called. She and her siblings stopped and turned towards me.

"What do you want?" I could hear the anger and hatred in her voice.

"Look I just wanted to apologize…" She cut me off.

"Apologize? So you admit it you were messing around with Percy." She yelled the accusation, like it were a dagger.

"Nothing happened between me and Percy." I tried to explain but she wouldn't listen.

"Please like I'm gonna believe some slut who showed the Stoll brothers her underwear on her first day here." I tried to keep myself calm but I could feel her attack on me I began to breathe harder and faster.

"Annabeth Percy was just trying to comfort me okay, I had just talked to my mom and-" She cut me off again.

"I guess I should have guessed this much, your just like your whore mother." I wasn't sure if she had just said what she said but anger was rapidly filling my body.

"What did you just say?" My voice for some reason was calm it completely betrayed the anger and hurt I was feeling.

"You heard me, mother like daughter. You mom is the only woman ever to be knocked up by two _different_ gods." The anger in me began to boil. If she said one more thing… "Like I said slut daughter like whore mother!" The anger in me poured out, no one talks about my family, especially in front of me. I barely noticed the crowd we were drawing.

"Listen up you little bitch." My voice was still calm but every word was as cold as sub-zero. "I can see why a Percy would break up with you. You are just an insecure, jealous little cunt." Annabeth looked taken aback by my sudden change in mood but she didn't back down.

"Whatever you slut!" Annabeth spit the word at me.

"That all you can come up with? No wonder Percy would rather have me, you're an idiot." It wasn't true but I really just wanted to hurt this girl. Annabeth's anger grew more at the 'idiot' comment than the 'rather have me' one. I thought of a nickname that I had heard used earlier for Annabeth. "I see why they call you 'Wise girl' it's an ironic nickname, isn't it? Or do I have to explain what ironic means?"

"How 'bout you just tell us who your mother is going to fuck next!" She screamed. "No wonder your dad hasn't claimed you, he's too ashamed to admit he slept with your mom!" One more thing and… "I bet your brother only thinks his dad is Hermes, huh?" Okay last straw. I normally don't condone violence but this bitch had it coming. I snuck a peak and the entire camp had to be watching.

"Okay you cunt, it's time I kicked your ass." Annabeth actually laughed at me.

"Ha! Taking on someone with no training I don't think so."

"Oh I see you're scared to lose to a first year camper." Annabeth gripped her sword tighter. Then Percy ran between us.

"Girls come on don't do this. You guys don't need to fight over me." Did he seriously just say that? We both glared at him and he backed off.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson in manners." I told Annabeth.

"Please what would a slut like you know about manners." Annabeth scoffed.

"Fine then I'll teach you a lesson that a child of Athena should know well." Her anger returned tenfold with a flash of curiosity. "Don't act until you know all the facts." She began to shake with anger.

"When I kick your ass you will never speak to Percy ever again." Seriously she thought that if I had done something with Percy that he would not be to blame? It takes _two _to tango.

"Fine but when I shove your pretty little face into this dirt, you have to take back everything you said about my mother." Then I took a page from the Hermes kids. "And you have to let me make out with Percy then take him back." Annabeth only grew angrier but I was only baiting her. "Deal?"

"Deal!" I was surprised she didn't up the anty.

"Clarisse!" I yelled. She already knew what I was going to ask for she handed me the zai I had trained with earlier. I placed them in their defensive position. I really wasn't very skilled with the zai yet but I had seen what Clarisse had done with them and there is no better training then real combat. I ran at Annabeth, she readied her sword and swung at me I blocked the sword's edge with the prong of the sai on my left, but the sword's blade still cut me but only barely; I punched her in the chest with the knuckle of the sai. Annabeth stumbled backwards but regained her stance she brought her sword over head and slashed down, I flipped both sai and blocked the sword over head with a cross of both prongs. Then I remembered what Clarisse had done earlier. I pulled back one of my sai flipping it back to defensive position. Without my other sai blocking her sword, it fell in between the prongs. I twisted the sai and held the sword tight, Annabeth tried to pull the sword free but I held it too tightly. I brought my other sai and punched the sword with the knuckle **(blunt end of the sai)**, the sword broke into two pieces. Annabeth jumped back and looked at the broken sword, she threw it on the ground and pulled out a bronze knife. It looked old and worn something told me that Annabeth had had this knife for a long time. And she was an even stronger warrior with just the knife.

Her moves were much too quick for me to follow I tried to swipe her but she slashed my arm. I roundhouse kicked toward Annabeth's face but she ducked and attacked, I was ready for it and cart wheeled to the side. Annabeth was quick I attacked again with my sai but she was ready for it and knocked it out of my hand with a light stab into my arm. I jumped backwards. I tried to take in the situation. I had only one sai and I was up against an expert knife fighter. Then I realized something very important. I threw my remaining sai at Annabeth and like I suspected she dodged it but the sai lodged itself into a tree which a dryad yelled a curse at me for.

"Giving up?" Annabeth sounded confident and smug.

"On the contrary I don't need my zai." This just angered her more. And she came at me. What I had realized that I was taught to fight people with knives, so why was I losing? Because I was fighting with zai when I didn't need them, it through me off. Annabeth came at me and slashed with her knife, but my instinct took over I blocked her knife by hitting her hand. I palm striked her nose. Blood poured out. I saw my opening I ran at Annabeth she readied herself for my attack but I was trickier than most. I slid between her legs. Annabeth had slashed at where I would have been but I was now under/behind her. I twisted my legs around with my body tripping her (yes that was a break dance move) She fell face first into the dirt I rolled on top of her and pushed her face into the dirt.

"Eat the dirt!" I yelled.

"No!" Annabeth yelled.

"Then call me cheifey!" I yelled again.

"No!" She yelled louder.

"Then eat the dirt!" I yelled pushing her face into the ground.

"Okay I'm sorry; I apologize for calling your mother a whore." Annabeth cried. She admitted her defeat gracefully. I got off of Annabeth.

"I'm sorry Annabeth what you saw was Percy hugging me." She looked up she just looked humiliated, sad and angry. "He had shown me how to Iris Message my mom, and after I talked to my mom I started to cry. Percy was just comforting me." Her face added shame to her motley of emotions. "I'm sorry I attacked you so fiercely but mom and Max are very precious to me insulting them is worse than attacking me.

"I understand but…" She sat up and started to wipe the blood and dirt off of her face.

"Look, Annabeth I'm not going to lie to you, physically I am attracted to Percy, I mean who wouldn't be he's good looking and he has a swimmer's body." Annabeth shot a look at Percy and blushed. "But I don't want to date him." She looked at me questioningly I could swear the question was 'What he's not good enough for you?' "One I don't go after taken boys I've been cheated on before, by my best friend no less. And two; I just don't see Percy like that, he's a good friend but that's it."

"Thanks for not lying to me." She said and smiled. "But how were you able to beat me?" She said perplexed. Of course, she would be more interested in the battle, her mother was the goddess of battle tactics after all.

"Well I had the advantage. See the zai are the perfect weapon against swords and I was trained in a self-defense class, 'muggers with knives' was the most common lesson."

"Oh." Then something dawned upon Annabeth. "What about the other part of the deal?"

"I'll tell you what Annabeth I will not make out with Percy if you become my friend." I wasn't sure how she felt about the deal. I held my hand out.

"Deal." Annabeth smiled and shook my hand. We both walked to the infirmary to have our wounds taken care of, while on our way Annabeth and I had some girl bonding time and she forgave Percy and I. When Annabeth and I were done healing, she and Percy left together for some 'boyfriend/girlfriend time'. I walked out and saw Connor waiting for me.

"Hey." He greeted me.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked.

"You." He answered simply and walked with me to the Mess Hall for dinner. Dinner went by fine no problems at all and the sing-a-long was good too. But Connor kept leaning in to see if I was singing.

"Connor I am not going to sing." I told him after his last attempt.

"Why not?" He asked. I really didn't want to delve into the terrifying aspects of it.

"It's not my thing." He looked at me eyes narrowed.

"We'll see about that."

That night I had another strange dream. I was playing my violin in front of a mirror but in the mirror my reflection-I was singing. I was playing and singing _Misery Business _by Paramore. I looked behind me through the mirror and saw Connor smiling a big goofy happy grin. I hugged him but when we broke the hug he was different instead he was now a really good looking guy he had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes and was really tan. He looked like a college student or a model. He smiled and showed the most dazzlingly white teeth. But the look on his face was one of pride. I hugged him again and he didn't morph into someone else, he stayed like that. "Dad."

**For Kaylita;**

**Regarding Armony beating Annabeth, If Annabeth had been emotionally stable she would have won hands down. **

**Now Armony was angry too but she was focused on defending her mom and her brother where as Annabeth was fighting because she was angry only.**

**It is true that when you are angry people get scary but blind rage impedes logic. That's why its called 'blind'.**

**A note regarding Armony's zai training if you think "oh that's not hard" I suggest you try it first.**

**Also I do not own either of those songs. The first song is by Alison Krauss. The second was Come and Save Me by Gloriana. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter ocho or 8, Still having trouble with coming up with the stuff in between things but still trying. I want to thank O'Liathain for reviewing my chapters they're very helpful and I also want to give a shout out to Miranda Cosgrove, I don't know if you're reading this but if you are isn't it cool to get a shout out.**

**Also I received a question; "What is a harem?" well a harem is group of women who are followers to one man. I couldn't find the male equivalent so I wrote **_**male**_** harem.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians however I do claim all original characters and original situations.**

**Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_Ch.8 I'm offered Eternal Enslavement_

I opened my eyes to see Max looking down at me (I gave Connor his bed back and slept on the floor). He was smiling, oh gods, smiling is not a good thing. I sat up quickly. "Max?" He continued to smile 'innocently'. I looked down to see if he did anything, then I smelled something. I started sniffing and Max's grin grew wider. Then it dawned on me. "Max." He held up a mirror and I saw my face I now had a black marker moustache. "Max!" I yelled. Unfortunately that woke up the rest of the cabin.

"What's going on?" Connor jumped to his feet from his bed. He looked at me and started to laugh. He pointed. "Look at your face!" Everyone who was awake looked at me and began to laugh. I covered the 'stache', grabbed my things and left to wash away the shame. On my way to the showers, Annabeth caught up with me as did Lilith, and a blonde Aphrodite girl name Lois, they looked at my face and laughed. My face turned red and I could only imagine how much worse the moustache must have looked.

"Armony what happened?" Annabeth choked out between laughs.

"Max." I said. "He drew this on my face while I was sleeping."

"Well I would have guessed it was while you were sleeping." Lilith said. "Seriously why would you let him do that to your face?" Was she trying to be a bitch?

"But why would he prank you instead of any of his other siblings?" Lois asked. That was a good question I actually thought about it.

"Because he knows that I will always love him. And I can't really do anything in retaliation because of the time we went camping." My little brother probably did plan it out that way. Lilith looked amused but Annabeth and Lois showed some pity.

"Here let's get inside and see if we can wash that off." Lois said. Then I thought of something else.

"Shit my brother is a freaking evil genius if I try to scrub this stuff off, my lip will be all red from the irritation."

"Dang." Annabeth said. "Your brother could be mistaken for a kid of Athena."

"Don't worry, we Aphrodite girls have a recipe for makeup remover that can get even waterproof mascara off with one try." Lois said happily. After I had the mustache removed and a decent shower, Annabeth, Lois, and I walked to breakfast together, Lilith went off to find her harem. "I hate how she has all the boys wrapped around her finger." Lois sounded more jealous than anything.

"Yeah well she told me she was trying to build a male harem." I said pointing out the blatantly obvious.

"Weird she must be using some kind of spell or something." Annabeth observed. "But as long as she stays away from Percy I actually don't care." We went to our separate tables and ate with our cabins.

"I see you shaved the 'stache'." Connor said. I glared at him. "Oh come on." He said smiling, trying to get me to laugh about it with him. I remained glaring and unspeaking. "Talk to me." I turned my head away from him. I'm not really sure why I was doing this but it was fun. "Is this about me laughing at your mustache or yesterday when I saw-" I put my hand over his mouth to stop him from saying anymore.

"Don't talk about it." I said. Then I felt a warm wet _thing_ touch my fingers. I tried to keep my hand over his mouth despite the cringe I could feel but his tongue was persistent. I finally moved my hand away from and wiped his saliva off on my shorts. "That was vile you hand licker."

"Well you shouldn't have put your hand there." I had heard that exact same excuse many times from Max after I had to cover his mouth to keep him from spreading certain facts that shouldn't be told. "Anyway I was thinking about yesterday." My face began the reddening process as I thought back to yesterday. Connor looked at my face and guessed at my thought. He too began to redden a bit. "Not that part. I mean the musical part." That shocked me back to some sort of normalcy.

"What about it?" I asked. He actually had me curious.

"Well I wanted to hear you sing some more." He said it so simply he had no idea how badly that scared me.

"I-I'm a musician not a singer." I said hoping he would leave it at that.

"Fine, than I want a private concert." He smirked. 'After all you do oh me a favor." Shit, I do oh him a favor.

"Okay." I said defeated. "I will play something for you."

"Alright after you take on the maze, we'll go somewhere for my concert." His smile became wickedly mischievous. For some reason I felt I might regret this.

**After Breakfast**

I couldn't wait to fly today after everything that was going on I felt that some sky time would be perfect. I was right. Snowday and I flew all over the camp. We flew over the sea and the canoe lake. The entire time I couldn't help but smile, but while I smiled my mouth had a weird tingling sensation.

_"Armony, why are you humming?" _Snowday's thoughts were projected to me.

"Oh. I'm sorry I didn't realize I was humming." I said. It caught me by surprise I never sing and seldom hum, even in the presence of a horse.

_"Don't apologize it was quite beautiful. What was it that you were singing?"_ Snowday asked. She flew down lower and skimmed the water with her hooves. I tried to think back to what I was humming until I realized it.

"It was a hymn to Apollo I heard it at the first sing-a-long."

_"Apollo must be glad to have it sung so beautifully."_

"I have never actually sung it." I reported. I kind of wanted to change the subject. Luckily Snowday did.

_"I hear that you are a wonderful musician." _Snowday said to me, or thought to me.

"Where did you hear that?" I haven't played my violin since we were in New York.

_"I asked Percy about you and he told me how you played your violin for New York. So I was wondering would you create a song about the joy of flight." _Snowday seemed to really want a song for flight, and I honestly would love to make one.

"Sure." I agreed and Snowday whinnied at my compliance. I closed my eyes and let myself feel the rush of the wind and the warmth of the sun. Then I opened my eyes and took in all the sights, the sea, the forest the people below who if only could see what I saw would be able to see the world clearly. I could feel myself hum as the music of the sky flowed through me. The rush, the warmth, the fresh air, and the smells of the world above and below all surged into my body. When we landed Snowday did that air blowy thing that horses do and thanked me for the song, and said she could not wait until she could hear me sing it instead of hum it.

Combat training wasn't as bad as yesterday; today I wasn't on the edge of fainting. Clarisse had decided that all my training would be taught by combat and anything I didn't get would just be repeated and enforced with twenty pushups and twenty sit-ups, needless to say I was motivated to master and perfect.

"Dancer," Clarisse yelled. I was panting and my arms felt like spaghetti but I was still up. Clarisse was holding her lowered her spear from my throat. "You are going to have to be a lot faster than that if you want to get around you enemies defenses." I released a few harder breaths then took my fighting stance as did Clarisse. I ran at her she pulled her shield in front of her body and readied her spear. I shoved the spear to the side using the prong of my left sai. I jumped and kicked off the shield I back flipped and landed on my feet, Clarisse step back from my assault but I wasn't done I readied my right sai and through it at her shield. The extra hit gave me just enough time to run again and to flip over Clarisse. I flipped my left sai and held the prong to the base of her skull.

"If I can't be faster I can always be trickier." I said proudly.

"Not bad but." Clarisse turned suddenly and the base of her spear hit my neck sending me to the floor. "If you aren't going to kill your opponent then at least disarm them." Fuck did that hurt, I was seeing _planets_.

"Shit, Clarisse that was brutal." I said rubbing my neck.

"I'll commend your style and originality but it's disarm, incapacitate or kill. And most likely it will be killing. The monsters out there want you dead." Clarisse looked at me with a cold glare, but she softened up. "I know I'm pushing you hard, Armony, but I know you can do this and it will help you survive."

"Thanks Clarisse, this means a lot to me but… we have the entire summer Clarisse, don't worry so much." I smiled and she smiled back. Then I realized that was the first time she called me Armony.

"Alright Dancer," It was short lived. "That enough for today, tomorrow we go over armor weak points. With that we parted ways; I went to go practice archery, while she went to yell at Tom. Regarding the zai they were a really good weapon for me they allowed me to have the advantage of a weapon while keeping the advantage of being able to keep to my own movements. But I have to admit I was an archer at heart. The way the bow fit into my hand, the way my muscles tensed and relaxed as I pulled back the string, and the 'twang' of the string when the arrow was released was music to my ears.

"Armony!" Chiron called. I walked from my target over to him.

"Yes, Chiron?" I asked.

"I would like you to practice at our field range." Chiron smiled down at me.

"Um sure, but what is the field range?" His smile faltered for a bit but was returned just as large.

"The field range is where you can practice with three dimensional targets around a various obstacles and from different vantage points. It is run by the Apollo cabin." Chiron explained.

"Oh well that sounds interesting can you take me to the field/area place?" I wasn't really sure what to call it.

"Of course." Chiron showed me to the field. It was…pitiful. There was one target shaped like a deer in the middle of a field, with weeds and no obstacle whatsoever. There were also two hunting blinds one was elevated five feet in the air but one leg was broken and it would sway with a slight breeze. The other blind had been built into a tree but it had a hole in the bottom like someone had fallen through it. I looked around and noticed all the Apollo campers were just sitting back either writing in journals or playing an instrument.

"Chiron, I'm sorry but I…" I turned to look at Chiron but he was gone. How did I miss him leaving?

"Sup Armony?" I jumped, I turned around to see Nico. How the hell does he just appear?

"Holy crap, Nico. You scared me." He smiled sheepishly. I think he scared me on purpose. "How are you doing I haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm good so what brings you to…this." He said gesturing to the field.

"Chiron suggested that I practice my archery here but…" Nico noticed the dilapidated nature of the archery field.

"Yeah this place sucks." He agreed with me.

"So what brings you here?" I asked.

"Same as you." Nico answered.

"Than I guess we better start practicing." We did and it sucked. Nico wasn't a bad archer but one of his arrows did decapitate the deer target. We looked at each other questioningly; neither of us knew how that was even possible. Slowly we finished off the rest of the deer with our arrows. When we had finished we both walked off to the Maze. "The last time I took on the Maze I didn't see you." I noted.

"Yeah that's the thing about being the only member of the Hades cabin I get to choose everything I want to…" Lois had crossed our path and she waved to us, I waved back but Nico kept staring in awe.

"You know Nico, if you like a girl when she waves 'hi' it's best to wave 'hi' back." This snapped him back to a coherent state.

"I do not like her." He lied.

"Yeah and I don't have black hair." I said back.

"I haven't even talked to her yet…" Nico said forlornly.

"I tell you what if you help Max and me through the Maze I will introduce you to her." I said. Nico looked like the clouds had just parted and revealed to him the thing of his dreams. Then again it might have.

"Alright deal. I'll shadow travel us through the maze." He said. I must have looked confused (I was) because he started to explain. "All shadows are actually apart of the same thing and a child of Hades and various underworld creatures can shadow travel. We go through the shadows get to the end and win." That sounded…kind of creepy actually. I looked around for Max. Luckily he wasn't that far away he was hanging around Chris. He looked over and I motioned for him to come over.

"What Armony?" Max cocked his head to one side trying to seem innocent, for some reason. I looked back up to see a garden gnome glued to the back of Chris, who didn't seem to notice. I turned my attention back to Max.

"Nico is going to help us through the maze by shadow traveling." I said. I saw Max's eyes light up. Max turned to Nico and began to ask him all sorts of questions, I turned to look at the tower which Connor and Travis were standing on. I looked at Connor he was tightening something on the net launcher, something in my stomach flipped. Connor caught me looking; he winked and sent a smirk my way, the feeling in my stomach became more obvious. I felt a tapping on my shoulder and turned to Nico.

"You know if the guy you like smiles at you, you should smile back." Nico said. I could feel myself blush.

"I do not like Connor like that." I protested. Nico looked unconvinced. I rolled my eyes and turned away from him. I stole another look at the Stolls and saw them getting ready to address the crowd.

"Campers," Travis yelled. "Are you ready?"

"To enter the Maze of your doom." Connor finished for his brother.

"Pair up." Travis yelled. The campers did as instructed.

"And ready, set, go!" Connor yelled after the pairing was done. The gates opened to allow the campers in and they disappeared into the corridors. Already I could hear yelling as traps sprung on unsuspecting campers. I turned my attention back to Nico.

"So how do we do this?" I asked referring to shadow traveling.

"You two hold onto me and try not to vomit when were done."

" Wait what do you mea-." I was cut off as shadow appeared around us. I tried to look at Nico and Max but all I could see was darkness. Suddenly the shadows disappeared. I looked around and noticed I was in the exact same spot I looked for Nico and Max but they were gone. What the hell? This was annoying. Nico appeared out of shadows next to me, he looked tired like he had just run a race. "Nico are you okay, what happened?" He waited to catch his breath.

"I don't know I got Max over safely but for some reason you just didn't come with us. The shadows tried to take you but something stopped them." He looked just as confused as I felt.

"Let's try one more time and if it doesn't work then I'll just meet you over there." I said. He nodded and again the shadows wrapped around me, but again when they dispersed I was still where I was. Shit. Oh well, I made my way into the maze. It seemed normal but I had a feeling something was coming, I looked up and noticed that there were a few bars lined over the walls. I decided not to venture any farther into the Maze. I backed up from the wall near the entrance I ran and pushed myself up to the top. I sat on the wall and took a look around.

"Hey Armony!" Connor flew in front of me. "I can't wait for the concert." He smiled and my stomach flipped. Stupid concert. I stood up on top of the wall. I looked and saw Travis aim the net launcher at me. "You might want to run." Connor said cheekily. I ran across the wall a net cam flying at me. I flipped and the net went speeding beneath me.

"Nice try but you're going to have to do better than that!" I yelled.

"Then we will." Travis yelled. "Connor, get her." Wait did her just tell Connor to… crap. Connor flew alongside me as I ran I came to a break and had to jump Connor took his chance. He grabbed me and we went to falling into the rapidly ascending ground. Luckily we started spinning when Connor grabbed me so when we hit the floor we rolled instead of pancaking.

"Ugh." I groaned my body was sore, but not as sore as I thought it was gonna be. I felt the cold ground and a warm body on top of mine. I opened my eyes (I had closed them to avoid watching the ground) and stared into Connor's. This was the first time I had ever looked at Connor's eyes, normally his hair hangs in the way, but we were so close that wasn't a problem. His eyes were hazel, I guess, the color around his pupil was a rich brown, but the outer color was a deep blue much like Hermes' eyes. They were... "_Armony get up you need to finish the maze_" A voice said in my mind, I snapped back to business. I noticed Connor's left hand had cradled my neck from the impact with the ground and his other hand was on the back of my thigh.

"Are you okay?" Connor asked concern in his beautif- eyes.

"Yeah a bit sore but…" I made the mistake of looking into Connor's eyes again.

"Sorry Armony I didn't mean for us to go tumbling." Connor apologized. I could feel a heat rising from my stomach to the rest of my body. _"Armony!" _The voice yelled again.

"Well what do you expect when you go tackling a person in midair?" I said sarcastically, I was desperately trying to keep my mind coherent. He smirked at my remark. "Uh Connor?"

"Yeah." He was leaning closer to me.

"Can you get off of me?" I asked looking away from him.

"Sorry no can do. You are the only person to make it through the maze so it was my job to incapacitate you." Really?

"Well sorry to burst your bubble but Nico and Max already made it to the other side." Shock was clearly on his face. I took my chance. I rolled us over, and pinned him to the ground. I held my head high and looked down at him. "Sorry young padawon but I gotta go." I looked to the side and noticed spears that were stuck in the wall. Did they seriously want to make this easy for me? I jumped off of him; I got to the spears and used them to swing myself to the top of the wall (I was pretty good at the uneven bars). I ran across but Travis had me in his sites again. Another net came at me, this time I didn't have time to escape. Fortunately Travis' aim was off so the net only wrapped itself around my right arm. I wind milled my arms to stay on the wall; the net had thrown me off balance. I regained my balance only to be chased by Connor. He flew passed me, I wondered why he would do that until I saw the answer. There was another break in the walls so I would have to jump. I kept running, dozens of ideas popped into my head. I decided on one. I slowed my running to untie the net from my arm. As soon as I got it free I swung it over my head and threw it at Connor. He wasn't expecting that. Connor tried to fly out of its path but he wasn't fast enough. The net wrapped around his legs and he went crashing into the ground. I kept running and finally I made it to the end. I spotted Nico and Max, I jumped off and landed next to them. "Sup boys, you miss me?"

"Took you long enough." Max said, but he was happy I made it. Nico just stared at me in shock.

"What you never seen a girl jump from the top of a ten foot wall before?" Nico shook his head.

"Guess that means we won." Max noted. "I wonder if we get prizes again." His wondering was caught short by a horn. I had no idea what was going on but I assumed it meant we were to go to the Big House. We walked to the house and saw a group of fifteen girls, each of them was wearing a silver jacket; the girl in front had long auburn hair and her eyes were silver white, like the full moon she looked young but beautiful as well. The girl to her right had spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. She wore a black t-shirt under her jacket it said "that which doesn't kill me…better run" and a silver circlet around her head and unlike all the other girls she seemed comfortable.

"Who are they?" I asked Nico.

"Artemis' Hunters" Nico answered with disdain. All the campers gathered round some of them glared others had looks of confusion. Chiron cleared his throat.

"Campers please welcome lady Artemis and her hunters. They will be staying in the camp for a few days. So Capture the Flag will be held tomorrow." Chiron explained, he seemed a bit weary. He left just as soon as he was done. The campers dispersed just as quickly only a few remained to gawk at the hunters. Annabeth ran up to the girl with the circlet.

"Thalia!" Annabeth yelled, and hugged her. Thalia hugged her back and shook hands with Percy, who had followed Annabeth. Percy waved me over.

"Armony, Max this is Thalia, she used to be a camper here but now she's the lieutenant of the Hunters." Percy said matter-o-factly. "And a tree." He whispered. Thalia stepped on his toe. But Percy didn't even flinch. However he did fake an 'ow'

"I'm Armony I said holding out my hand. It nice to meet you and this is my brother Max." I introduced us. Max simply said 'hi' and ignored her. Thalia noticed his rudeness.

"What's eating him?" Thalia asked. Then Max walked up to Artemis who was organizing a few of her hunters.

"So you're Artemis." Max said. Several of the hunters shot glares at him. You could cut the tension with a knife. Artemis regarded Max with disinterest.

"Yes I am." She answered simply.

"Then how come you look so young." Thalia sent me a look that obviously said 'control your brother'. However, Artemis seemed amused by his question.

"Because I am a god I can take on any form I wish." Again her answer was cool not annoyed, not angry not happy, or proud just simple.

"How come you lure young girls into eternal enslavement?" Max asked. I have no idea what got into him but it was a very bad idea to talk to any god like that; especially one that is known for turning boys into animals and then hunting them down. I quickly placed my hand over Max's mouth. I looked around and noticed that all the hunters suddenly had silver bows and arrows drawn and aimed at Max. Artemis' showed a fury that was only being held by a thread. Behind me I could hear Thalia tell Annabeth that Max was a dead meat.

"Lady Artemis I apologize for my brother's comment. He doesn't always think before he speaks." I tried to cool down the situation. Her anger seemed to die down looking at me; I guess the goddess of maidens has a soft spot for maidens. Then Max began to lick my hand.

"I don't believe he does." Artemis replied. I kept my hand tight over his mouth, but I could feel it down in my legs. "I was thinking of turning him into a jack-a-lope and hunting him down, but something tells me that if I did that than you would fight tooth and nail to protect him, even if it meant your death." Okay I have no idea how she figured that out but it's kind of unsettling "You remind me a lot of myself from the past always having to clean up after my brother." She seemed to laugh at a distant memory.

"Milady?" Thalia asked. Artemis snapped away from her memory.

"Yes, I have matters to speak with Chiron about before I leave. Thalia you take care of business here." After she ordered she walked into the Big House.

"That was close."Thalia noted before leaving to direct the hunters. I turned my full attention on Max. Yeah I was happy he wasn't turned into a rabbit with antlers but I was also pissed. Why did he act so stupid?

"Max what is wrong with you; you do not talk like that to a god?" I yelled. "And where did you get that whole enslavement crap? And why did you lick my hand?" Max looked up at me, he had a few tears in his eyes, he was distraught.

"Nico said that the hunters took his sister and I didn't want them to take you too." He looked down crying. "And you shouldn't have had your hand there." Max said quietly. He was actually serious. He was probably crying on purpose to make me feel less angry with him though. Damn he's good.

"Max…" I hugged him. "Go find Tyson, okay? See if he finished making your knife." He nodded and ran off. I knew that would distract him. Man, I was going to have a serious talk with Nico. I was about to ask Percy and Annabeth if they had seen him when I noticed that they had left; probably to make out somewhere.

"Hey Armony!" I looked to see Connor waving frantically. I looked closer and behind him he had my violin case. Great, the concert.

"_Buenos Dias, _Connor. _Como estas?_" I greeted. He looked at me strangely at my Spanish words.

"Yeah, you too _muchacha?"_ I couldn't help and laugh at him.

"God Connor you are so white." I was happy to have something distract me from the whole Artemis business. He pouted. "Okay I'll give you your concert but since it is _privado _you better have a place far from prying eyes."

"I have the perfect place." He smiled. Honestly, that made me even more nervous. Connor grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the forest. We traveled like that for about five minutes in silence, him pulling me and me digging my heels in. Finally after we passed Zeus's fist (weird name looks more like a pile of scat) we came to a part of the forest that seemed disturbing. The forest carried scars, of a great battle; trees were upturned and burned, slashes on the trunks, long old forgotten armor rusted amongst ruins, and the ground itself seemed to be carrying bad memories. I could feel it like a chill up my spine.

"Connor, what happened here?" My voice sounded weak and it trembled.

"Two years ago there was a battle here. We won." Connor didn't exactly sound happy. "But it shook everyone that they were able to enter the camp. See this was before that whole battle in New York. Kronos' army tried to destroy Camp Half-blood by coming through an entrance from the Labyrinth." I could feel his hand tighten as he explained.

"Labrynth? Do you mean like the one with the minotaur and Theseus?" Wasn't that supposed to be on some island in the Mediterranean?

"That's the one." Connor said. "Daedalus the inventor turned out to still be alive, and the Labyrinth was connected to his life force and so it grew under the world, with various entrances everywhere." He started to pull us away from the area. We went passed a few more trees than Connor smiled. "We're here." The trees split into a clearing with a crystal clear pool surrounded by white flowers. Wow the pool was so clear that I could see all the way to the bottom. I looked over the pool and I could see my reflection perfectly. Wow every detail of my face could be seen; it was like a perfect mirror. "Alright Armony start playing." He handed me my violin case, I opened it and pulled out my violin, and after I tuned it, I placed the shoulder rest on it and took my stance.

"Any requests?" I asked. I actually hadn't even decided what to play.

"Something you wrote" Connor answered with a smirk. I really didn't want to play something I wrote but…I owed him. I thought back to the song I had just composed that morning; _The Joy of Flight_, or at least that's what I was calling it. I thought back to the tune I had created. I began to strum the bow across the strings. As I played the familiar tune, my memories played in my head again.

**Connor POV**

Okay she wanted a place no one went and I found her one. Ever since the battle of the Labyrinth no one came near where the entrance used to be, it brought up too many bad memories. But just beyond the old wreckage now laid a pond that had been brought by a spring that had sprung up from where a giant had fallen. Travis and I were the only people who knew about it (we found it after running from an angry mob, the pudding wooden horse fiasco; good times). So I knew it would be deserted. We crossed the old battle site though I tried not to stay there Armony asked. "Connor, what happened here?" Her voice trembled; she must have already realized that something bad had happened.

"Two years ago there was a battle here. We won." The battle was still fresh even though we had won no one could look at the camp the same way. "But it shook everyone that they were able to enter the camp. See this was before that whole battle in New York. Kronos' army tried to destroy Camp Half-blood by coming through an entrance from the Labyrinth." I could feel her hand tighten around mine.

"Labrynth? Do you mean like the one with the minotaur and Theseus?" Leave it to Armony to question the whole Myth on it.

"That's the one." I said. "Daedalus the inventor turned out to still be alive, and the Labyrinth was connected to his life force and so it grew under the world, with various entrances everywhere." I started to pull us away, I didn't want to this to be sad. This concert was going to be good and possibly funny. We got farther away, we I finally got to where we were supposed to be. "We're here." I announced. I watched Armony as she took in the surroundings. "Alright, Armony start playing." I handed her the violin case, she opened it and made a few adjustments to the violin.

"Any requests?" I she asked. I thought back to something Percy had once said.

"Something you wrote" I answered. She grimaced but readied her stance and placed the bow to the strings. She pulled the bow and music seemed to engulf the area. The melody was paced regularly, not too fast, and not too slow. The music was like a memory as I listened I could picture the ocean sparkling with sunlight, the bird's eye view of the world below. The tune grew quick and simple but hypnotic, like the wind across my ears. I couldn't actually feel the rush of wind but it was like the music made me remember or imagine it in great vivid detail. And everything I felt was more intense, well not exactly more intense, but everything I felt, felt better. The music became warmer and rich filled with extra notes; and with that I could feel the sun's warmth, it was like being caressed by a warm hand. Then I realized Armony was singing; her mouth was open just slightly and though she sang no words her voice was there. She sounded truly beautiful; her singing was quiet and unsure of itself. But despite the song it was singing her voice sounded desperate; desperate to be released. Slowly the music began to slow and I could feel the sensation of weightlessness and falling (which was a weird combination). The song grew quiet and abruptly stopped. I watched as Armony removed the violin from her shoulder, she looked at the violin like she was surprised to be finished. She looked at me questioningly. I could see a slight panic in her eyes.

"Armony that was…" I stopped talking looking for a word that could actually describe what I had heard but I couldn't find anything. The panic in her eyes seemed to grow at my indecision.

"Beautiful, stunning, truly magnificent." A female voice said just beyond the trees. I could hear footsteps at the person came closer. Lady Artemis stepped into the clearing. She looked only at Armony completely ignoring my presence. "Chiron had told me about your talents with a bow. However, I did not know that the extended into musical instruments."

"Th-thank you Lady Artemis." Armony smiled, but she looked completely shocked.

"Armony," Artemis said losing her politeness becoming more businesslike. "How would you like to join my Hunters?"

**Sorry about the cliffhanger but I kind of wanted to do one (I now see why people do them all the time). **

**Okay, I really need help this time, I have no idea what color Connor's eyes are so I had to make it up if anyone knows what color they are please tell me.**

**Also I just started college…so…does anyone have any advice. Because my writing is definitely going to slow down until I can at least get into the routine of college, I'll try to write in my spare time but…. No promises.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 I started writing Friday Sept. 3and finished Sept. 13**

**Since I am in College, let's play the chapter 9 drinking game (you play this game with Coca Cola right?). Take a shot or drink every time someone asks a question to themselves.**

**Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_Ch. 9 Liquid Confidence; I don't recommend it_

Join the Hunt? Could I really? Lady Artemis just offered me to join, I couldn't believe it. I stared at her, just minutes ago my brother had royally offended her, and half of me wanted to say yes, but half of me also wanted to say no. Then Max popped up into my head. "…I didn't want them to take you too." His words kept me grounded, Could I really leave my family behind? Artemis looked at me she noticed my struggle. I turned to see Connor staring wide eyed, like he couldn't believe what was happening.

"You don't have to decide now but I will expect an answer by the time I return for my hunters." Artemis turned and walked back into the forest. She disappeared. My thoughts were swimming. Connor and I stood there in an awkward silence for what seemed like hours, until he finally broke it.

"So… are you going to join them?" Connor asked. I looked at him he seemed worried or pained… I couldn't tell.

"I don't know." I answered. He looked like I had punched him in the gut. Was joining the hunters really that bad? "But I probably won't" I amended. "I couldn't leave my mom and Max behind." The more I thought the less sure I became. Could I even join? I had never really loved anyone like you read about or see in movies before but I've had my share of boyfriends. I decided to stop thinking about it and changed the subject. "So did you like the song?" I asked.

"Uh yeah I thought it was really good. It was beautiful." Connor said he smiled but it didn't seem whole hearted. "But I also heard you singing." My heart basically stopped I had thought I was humming. "You know you're a really talented singer, so why don't you sing?" He asked me. I looked into his eyes and I could feel something telling me to take a leap of faith. I really hoped he would understand.

"Singing is so much more personal, than playing an instrument for me." I started to explain. Connor listened attentively. "See when you play a song on an instrument the instrument is making the music. All I'm doing is guiding the notes. If someone doesn't like the sound, than I can blame it on the instrument or whoever wrote the song. But singing is all me. It's my voice that the audience is hearing, it my voice that they'll reject." I looked at the ground I didn't want to see his face. I had never revealed this to anyone before. In my head I could hear his voice telling me how stupid I was.

"I get it." Okay I was not expecting that. I looked at him; his face was sincere. "So you don't sing because you think people will reject you but Armony your voice is awesome, you don't need to worry about people not liking you." That was the best compliment I had ever received, I could feel my mouth curve into a smile. But in the back of my mind I could still feel the nagging doubt.

"Really?" Gods I hoped he would say 'yes'.

"Yeah. Armony you're the best singer I have ever heard." He smiled at me, and at that point I wanted to fly. Quickly my thoughts went back to the dream I had had last night. "Do you like singing?" The question caught me off guard. Did I like singing? No. I loved it, to feel so close to music, to make it with my body was wonderful.

"I love singing." I told Connor. He looked at me knowingly, which was a little unnerving.

"Then how about singing at the sing a long tonight?"The smile immediately disappeared from my face. Already I could feel a panic and fear creeping into my veins it must have been obvious cause Connor quickly continued. "Armony playing an instrument isn't enough for you, is it?" What did he mean? "Armony you were singing when you were playing that song and you didn't even realize it did you?" He was right, every time that I had ever played music, I could feel a tickle in the back of my throat. My voice wanting to burst out and sing but my fear always kept it in check and it still did.

"It's one thing when someone catches me off guard but to willingly put myself in that position. I just can't do it." I told him. Connor looked a bit disappointed but I couldn't. I started to pack up my violin. Then I noticed that the secret compartment of my violin had been placed back wrong. I opened it and noticed I was missing twenty bucks. "Connor, why am I missing twenty dollars?" I glared at him but he smiled innocently.

"So what's your favorite song?" He asked effectively changing the subject. If there is ever a way to distract me music is definitely the way.

"Well I don't really have a favorite song, they are always changing but I just love music." So Connor and I walked back talking about music, the entire way back to camp. We walked out of the woods and quickly caught the attention of one of Artemis' Hunters. She looked like she was maybe about fifteen but she gave off an aura of a much older person. She was wearing the same silver jacket like all the others, but also a pink shirt underneath and blue jeans. She stared at Connor murderously.

"You!" She yelled. I looked at Connor he looked amused but also a bit nervous. "You are one of those horrible boys that gave me that awful shirt!" There was pure murder in her eyes.

"Connor what did you do?" I asked quietly. But the Hunter heard me. She appraised me and explained with hatred.

"This boy gave me a t-shirt tainted with Centaur's blood." She spat at Connor. Okay I could see how gross it would be to put a t-shirt with blood on it but…

"Hey, it was a nice shirt." Connor defended; he was taking joy in this. Suddenly a silver arrow was notched in a silver bow and pointed at Connor. He jumped back, hands up.

"That shirt caused the most horrible rash; it burned and pained me for months." She pulled the arrow farther back anchoring it against her mouth.

"Oh, come on you're immortal it's not like it did any real harm!" Connor shot me a pleading look. What was I supposed to do? The hunter aimed her arrow lower, at Connor's crotch. "Don't shoot!" Honestly this was kind of funny, but the hunter was serious, she really might kill him. I couldn't help it I started laughing. "Armony?"

"Dude you never mess with a girl's clothes." I told him, holding back my laughter. I decided to help him. "Uh Miss hunter?"

"My name is Phoebe." She said keeping her sights on Connor.

"Yes, Phoebe could you not maim him now?" She looked at me angrily and like I was crazy. "Well, you would get in trouble if you did it now. Why not just wait until the Capture the Flag game tomorrow when it'll be encouraged." She thought about it her arrow still on Connor. Phoebe relaxed and the bow and arrow disappeared. But Connor looked at me like I was crazy.

"You are correct, tomorrow would be much more advantageous." She smiled at the future prospects. "So you are Armony. Chiron had told Lady Artemis that you are talented with a bow. Would you like to practice with a few of us hunters?" I didn't want her to get angry again and also to get pointers from a Hunter who was probably taught by Artemis herself was too good to pass up.

"Sure." I answered we both smiled. "Hey Connor," At the mention of his name Phoebe growled. "Can you please take my violin back to the cabin?" I wasn't giving him a choice. I pushed the case into his arms and Phoebe and I walked toward the archery field.

"You two are siblings?" Phoebe asked me as we walked.

"No." I answered, I was confused by her question.

"Then why would you both stay in the same cabin?" Phoebe asked explaining my confusion.

"My father hasn't claimed me." I said, the feeling of abandonment pulled at my heart and again I had to remind myself that this was nothing new.

"So there is no relationship between you two?" Phoebe said with a weird kind of curiosity I couldn't pin point.

"Well he's my friend, and he is my little brother's brother so…" I wasn't exactly sure what that made us but it was kind of weird. I wasn't used to sharing my brother.

"So he is your brother's brother but not yours?" Shit, was I going to have to explain that my brother and I both had different dads. I just nodded and she left it at that.

"So what's it like being a hunter?" I asked. Phoebe grinned. And began to explain all the wonderful things she loved about being a hunter.

**Connor POV**

First I get attacked by a pissed off hunter then I get stuck with having to take Armony's violin case back to the cabin alone. And why did she laugh I could have had my dick shot off. But it was kind of nice to see her laugh. But now that I was alone I had some business to take care of. Armony is a great singer she should have confidence out the wazoo (whatever that is… is it possible that the 'wazoo' is actually her… nah), so I just need to get her some confidence. So I needed to visit Pollux. I dropped Armony's violin off at the cabin and made my way to the strawberry fields. On my way I noticed several hunters glaring at me. Tomorrow's game was going to be brutal. After several minutes of more glares, I arrived at the Strawberry fields. I looked for Pollux but instead found Max. He was flipping something gold in the air and catching it.

"Hey Max!" I waved to my new little brother and he ran over and hugged me, which was kind of weird. He was holding a golden coin about the size of a half-dollar. "What have you got there?" I said gesturing to the coin.

"This is my new knife. Tyson made it." He flipped the coin in the air and with a swipe of his hand caught it, the coin extended into a knife. His name was engraved into the blade on one side and the image of a caduceas on the other. He flipped it again and the knife returned to a coin. "Isn't it cool?" He said adoring the coin.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." I agreed with him. "Hey have you seen Pollux?" Max looked away from his coin thinking hard.

"That blonde guy who controls vines?" Max asked. I nodded. "I tell you if you give me the twenty dollars you took from Armony." He smirked at me and held out his hand.

"I didn't take money from your sister." I lied. How the Hades did he find that out?

"Connor I saw you take it from her violin case when you went back to the cabin." He extended his hand farther to me.

"Max…" I was defeated I reached into my pocket to find the money gone. Max smiled mischievously and showed me the twenty in his other hand. He had pick pocketed me when he hugged me. He was good. Max walked off with my/Armony's twenty. I can't believe I didn't feel him pick pocket me. I looked over the strawberry fields and saw Pollux's head poking up from a few rows down. I walked over and noticed him growing grapes instead of strawberries. "Hey Pollux watcha' doing?" He jumped; he was doing something he wasn't supposed to.

"H-hey Connor!" He turned around trying to hide his… whatever he was doing. "What do yah need?" He asked. Normally the only time Travis or I talk with Pollux is for materials. He had figured out how to spike the grapes he grew.

"I need something for tonight." I answered. He looked at me wearily.

"Individual or Party standard?" He was all business.

"Individual." I said. Pollux smirked.

"Who's it for?" I hesitated. "I need to know you don't want them getting too much, do you?" He was right I couldn't risk what happened that last time; poor Liam. He survived the fall off of the roof but not the hangover the next day.

"Armony." I whispered. His smirk got more smirkish.

"Looking for an easy hook-up?" Pollux asked.

"N-no! I just want Armony to loosen up for tonight's Campfire." I protested. Pollux's smirk was replaced by a look of confusion. "You'll understand if everything goes according to plan." He shrugged and waved his hand at a vine. A bunch of green grapes grew and he handed them to me.

"One or two grapes should do. That'll be twenty bucks." I reached into my pocket to remember Max had stolen it from me.

"Give me a few minutes."

**Armony POV**

The hunters we actually pretty cool, I wasn't sure why everyone avoided them like the plague. After the hunters had shown me how to hit moving targets while moving, they decided they wanted to see the Archery field range. After all the verbal abuse the hunters could come up with was said about the field they set up a few of their own targets to practice. I had no idea where they got the targets from but I wasn't complaining. After we thoroughly shot the targets and a few tracking lessons from Phoebe we called it quits. The girls were so nice, they welcomed me and taught me and we had lots of fun. Would that be what it's like if I joined the hunters? I walked to the Mess Hall; dinner would be starting soon. I got there to find Lilith being carried by a few of members of her male harem. I went through the line and got my food. I gave the best cut to Hermes and went to sit down. Everyone was at the table except for Connor. I looked around but I saw no sign of him.

"Hey Max," I turned to my little brother; he was spinning a coin on the table. "Have you seen Connor?" He looked up.

"I saw him at the Strawberry fields but I don't know where he is now." He shoved a spoon of potato salad into his mouth. I looked toward the Strawberry fields but still no sign of him; for some reasons my instincts were making me uneasy. I saw Nico at his table and I reminded myself to talk to him. Percy was eating with Tyson, the Hunters were at the normally vacant Artemis table; everyone seemed to be around. Something suddenly touched my shoulders and I yelped in surprise; yes, I yelped. I turned and saw a smiling Connor and anyone within earshot laughing at me (stupid yelp). He sat down across from me and took a piece of meat from my plate.

"Where have you been?" I interrogated. Connor had that same smile Max got when he was planning something.

"I was around the Strawberry fields when I stumbled on Pollux making these." Connor held up a bunch of green grapes they looked fat and juicy and delicious.

"Wow, those look really good." I said eyeing the grapes. What can I say, they looked _really_ good. Connor's grin grew more mischievous but I was too busy eyeing the little fruits to actually worry about that.

"Armony would you like one?" I nodded vigorously. "Pollux said that these are best eaten as a dessert." Connor said. "So you can have one after dinner." I wanted to complain but he did say I could have one. "So how was your time with the hunters?" The question pulled me away from the grapes.

"It was cool." I answered. "The girls are really nice. They even gave me tracking and archery pointers." Connor's smile seemed to disappear; he looked worried. "Hey Connor are you okay?" His smile returned but it looked forced.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered back, half-heartedly.

**After Dinner**

Dinner finished off without a hitch. I walked up to Connor. "Okay can I have a grape now?" I smiled friendly but I was all business, I _love_ grapes.

"Sure" Connor pulled one off of the bunch and handed it to me. I popped it in my mouth and chewed. The flavor was explosive and it was so juicy. The sweetness was perfect and the juices were cool. I swallowed the grape and I felt good.

"Uh, Connor?" He knew what I was asking for because he handed me another grape. This one was just as good but the flavor was stronger. Suddenly I started to feel funny, but in a good way. Then things started getting fuzzy…

**Connor POV**

"Hey Armony are you okay?" I asked, she had taken both grapes but she still seemed normal, maybe a bit flushed but that was it.

"Yeah, I feel totally okay." Armony said kinda like a valley girl stoner. "Hey Connor?" Armony cocked her head to one side. "Have you ever had a Whataburger?"

"Uh, no." I answered. That was random, but kind of funny.

"Sadness, like they are sooo good. But you can like only get them in Texas and it's so sad." She actually looked like she was about to cry. "Hey can I have another grape?"

"I don't think so." I told her. Two grapes were definitely enough. She pouted her lip and gave me puppy dog eyes. I was actually tempted to give her one. I shook my head 'no'. Then things got…different. Armony put her arms on my shoulders and one of her hands entwined itself in my hair.

"Please Connor." She looked into my eyes and brought her face incredible close to mine. I could feel her breath on my mouth, she licked her lips. Armony began to run her hands down my arms. My mind was frozen the way her hands moved sent shivers up my spine. She moved quickly and stole the grapes out of my hands; Armony backed off and stuck her tongue out at me.

"Hey!" I yelled. She just smiled and popped two more grapes in her mouth. "Come on give me the rest." I held out my hand. She rolled her eyes and threw the grapes to me. She smiled and lost her balance. Armony caught herself before she could stumble anymore. Crap, I was gonna have to babysit her, or bad things could happen. She twirled her body around and then did something really weird. Armony raised her rightleg until her head was upside down and her leg was in the air, straight above her; dang she was flexible. She twirled her leg back down and regained her standing position, just a bit more wobbly.

"Connor what's wrong with Armony?" I turned around to see Max looking at me through narrowed eyes. He looked suspicious; I looked down on him and noticed his coin was back to being a knife. Shit.

"She ate some bad grapes." I said. Seriously I couldn't think of anything better? I could have said she had hit her head, or was bitten by a radioactive spider or that she had made Dionysus mad, so he returned the favor. No, I had to tell him the truth, or most of it. Some Hermes kid I was.

"Oh," He said then he spotted the grapes. "Did you take them away from her?" Max asked. I nodded. "Good. By the way the Sing-a-long is going to start soon." With that he went and grabbed his sister's hand and dragged her to the campfire. Well time to put the plan in action. The rest of the campers began to gather around the fire. The Apollo cabin readied there instruments; I sat on the other side of Armony Max was giving death glares to everyone that came near. He was really protective of his sister. Armony nudged me with her elbow, I turned but she wasn't looking so she did it again this time harder. I fell back after she elbowed me in the ribs. Armony looked down at me.

"Connor you shouldn't be laying down silly goose. You might get dirty. She said it funny with a small emphasis on each syllable. Did she just speak in a haiku? Armony looked at the Apollo kids. "Hey, where's Kayla?"

"She's got a sore throat so she won't be singing tonight." Will answered. Yes, Travis had come through. He knew what I was up to and said he would take Kayla out of commission so Armony would have a chance to sing. Will started the song to Apollo; I still had no idea what it meant in English. "Okay well let's get this party started. A quick warning since Kayla isn't able to sing for this first song her part is up for grabs." This was going perfect. They started playing _Need You Now_ by Lady Antebellum. No one was willing to sing the girl's parts so it ended up as a halfhearted collaboration of everyone, and still Armony only mouthed the words. Crap this was going to be harder than I thought. The Apollo cabin went through several songs: _Love Song, Hey Soul Sister, _and on Nico's request _Highway to Hell. _I had to do something. I got up and walked over to Will while he was resting. "Hey, Connor what's up, you wanna sing?"

"What are you talking about?" I was confused what gave him that impression?

"I heard yesterday you serenading Armony." He arched his eyebrows.

"Well then can you tell me what band performed that song?" Now he was confused.

"It was by Gloriana. Why?"

"Can you play something by them?" I really hoped this was going to work.

"Sure." He went back to his brothers and they started the song. When they started the beginning guitar part Armony looked up and her mouth curved into a smile.

_Down a back road _

_Long, hot summer _

_A couple kids runnin' loose and wild _

_He kissed her _

_She said mister, _

_Take an inch and I'll give you a mile _

Armony started to sing but it was quiet and I was the only one to hear her. But I could hear the desperation in her voice, she was so close.

_I ain't here to do anything half-way _

_Don't give a damn what anyone might say _

_I just wanna free fall for a while _

_That rebel moon is shinin' _

_Those stars burn like diamonds _

_Hell bent on chasin' down that crazy spark _

_I'll follow you where you're leading _

_To the first sweet taste of freedom _

_You got me runnin' baby, _

_Wild at heart _

_About midnight, he tells her _

_I ain't got no come-on lines _

Armony stood up and started singing all eyes were on her as she sang.

_Well I love you, or I'll try to _

_We got nothing to lose but time _

The smile on her face was the biggest I had ever seen, and the happiest. She moved her body to the music. The song became infectious and everyone began to sing. The fire grew over six feet tall and glowed in rainbow colors; even the stars and the moon seemed more vibrant.

_Stick your hand into my back pocket _

_Light me up like a bottle rocket _

_I just wanna free fall for a while _

_That rebel moon is shinin' _

_Those stars burn like diamonds _

_Hell bent on chasin' down that crazy spark _

_I'll follow you where you're leading _

_To the first sweet taste of freedom _

_You got me runnin' baby, _

_Wild at heart _

_About midnight, he tells her _

_I ain't got no come-on lines _

_Well I love you, or I'll try to _

_We got nothing to lose but time _

_Stick your hand into my back pocket _

_Light me up like a bottle rocket _

_I just wanna free fall for a while _

_That rebel moon is shinin' _

_Those stars burn like diamonds _

_Hell bent on chasin' down that crazy spark _

_I'll follow you where you're leadin' _

_To the first sweet taste of freedom _

_You got me runnin' baby, _

_Wild at heart _

_O-oh, alright _

_Tonight is tellin' us we're way too young _

_O-oh, that's alright _

_I've got forever on the tip of my tongue _

_That rebel moon is shinin' _

_Those stars burn like diamonds _

_Hell bent on chasin' down that crazy spark _

_I'll follow you where you're leading _

_To the first sweet taste of freedom _

_You got me runnin' baby, _

_Wild at heart _

_That rebel moon is shinin' _

_Those stars burn like diamonds _

_Hell bent on chasin' down that crazy spark _

_I'll follow you where you're leading _

_To the first sweet taste of freedom _

_You got me runnin' baby, _

_You got me runnin' baby, _

_Wild at heart _

_O-oh, alright._

Above Armony's head a golden treble clef was floating. Armony noticed everyone staring and span around looking for something on her. "What are all yah' wankers lookin' at?" She said in the worst British accent I had ever heard.

"Armony you have a sign floating above your head." Annabeth told her.

"Really? Whose is it?" Armony tried looking at it but she fell backwards but I caught her.

"It's the mark of Apollo, Armony." I said. Her eyes widened.

"The sun god; does that mean I can control Gravity?" Armony outstretched her hand toward a knocked over log. "Float, for I command it!" She yelled. Nothing happened. "Ah, cheese and crackers, it didn't work."

"Connor!" Chiron yelled. "Is Armony inebriated?" Uh, oh.

"Uh, yeah…" I said. What else could I say, it was obvious.

"Will, take Armony to her new cabin, make sure she gets some sleep." Will stood up and took Armony. Chiron looked at me, than at Travis. "We will get to the bottom of this tomorrow."

"Hey, Chiron" Armony said. "Can I braid you tail?" After that Will and a few of Armony's new siblings took her to the Apollo cabin.

"Connor," I looked around to see Max looking up at me. "Where are they taking Armony?"

"To her cabin, Max." I answered.

"But I thought we were staying in the same cabin." He sounded confused and a bit sad.

"Well her dad claimed her Max, now she has to stay in the Apollo cabin." I gotta say I was a bit bummed too.

"But…" Max stared off toward his sister as they took her to her cabin.

**Armony POV**

I woke up with the worst head ache. My head was throbbing. I opened my eyes; bad idea. It was like the light was trying to kill my eyes, it hurt so badly. I sat up and the throbbing got worse like a drum line (who couldn't hold a decent beat but tried to compensate with it by playing loudly) was in my head. I looked at my surroundings; there were a lot of beds maybe twenty, and each post for the bed was a marble column, the floor was a white tile with golden grout and other very shiny things. I turned my head, bad idea, the pounding got worse. Then I heard the loudest noise ever.

"Hey, Armony how are you feeling?" Will asked.

"Ah, you don't have to yell." I cried. What the hell? Why did my head feel so bad? "Dude, my head is killing me, what the hell?"

"Yeah, well last night turns out someone spiked something you ate or drank and well you were pretty wasted." Will explained he smiled sheepishly. Great, the first time I ever get wasted and I can't even remember it. I stood up and walked a little. I stumbled but I was on my own two feet.

"Where am I?" I asked. I didn't recognize where ever I was.

"In the Apollo cabin." Will answered. I looked around and noticed the sleeping Apollo kids.

"But why am I in here?" I asked. I could feel something coming up.

"Wow you really don't remember, do you?" I gave him my 'you seriously think I'm lying' look. "Well last night Apollo claimed you." I could feel my eyes widen. "That's right Armony, Apollo is you dad." Oh, crap. I ran over to the trash can in the corner of the cabin and threw up. After I emptied my stomach Will came over and rubbed my back.

"Sorry but…" I looked at Will he looked apologetic.

"What?" I said tasting yesterday's dinner; it did not taste as good as yesterday.

"Well see you're the oldest Apollo kid." He said. I noticed that he was stalling.

"And" I wasn't in the mood for this.

"That makes you the Apollo cabin Counselor." I threw up again.

**Chapter nine was finished yesterday but I was at the midnight release of Halo: Reach so I didn't post it. The line at GameStop was out the door and it wrapped around the parking lot. I went to Wal Mart and didn't even have to wait in line and got a $20 gift card. If you're wondering why I went to GameStop My brother's friend had won the Legendary Edition for free. Any way my writing is going to slow down big time and you can blame Cassandra Clare for it. Guess what I bought with the $20 gift card. Clockwork Angel Baby!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 I've been working on this one for a while… I have the story planned (in fact it's in outline form) but for some reason I'm lost. C'est la vie. Anyway, any one see Easy A, I love that movie it's really funny. **

**Also regarding the…lemons… well I in no way support, having sex before your old enough so I need to do some tweaking because it should be legal. In Texas (where I'm writing) the age of consent is 17 the same for New York (where it takes place) and New Mexico (where Armony is from) and I think Connor is 17 or 18 (not sure) so I should only need to tweak Armony's age. So now I need to work in a birthday to the plot. Oh well. I just thought ya'll should know what's going on.**

**BTW; a lot of POV switching this chapter.**

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

_Ch.10 Plotting_

**Lilith POV**

That little bitch! I have no idea what Armony did but she broke my spell. I worked all year on that spell to perfect it. And all she does is come along and sing a few notes and my spell is just washed out! Hell no. It took me months to figure out the range of the spell and to keep it up with increments of 5 gram potions, it was exhausting (which is why I had my servants carry me). Getting an owlet's wing in this day and age is incredibly hard. Not to mention splitting the opium alkaloids of a poppy plant. OR getting the yellow cake uranium…wait…I didn't use that one for this spell. Whatever, this girl is all about showing me up; I'll teach her a lesson. Maybe I'll use her brother, Max, or maybe I'll take away her hearing for a while to mess with her musical talent…or better yet, I'll use Connor.

**Max POV**

I was sitting in my bed. My new brothers and sisters were cool but I missed Armony. She's my _real_ sister. I know Connor said it was because her dad claimed her but… I like it when Armony and I are together. I could feel my eyes getting hot and my vision got bleary from my tears welling up. Armony wouldn't leave me by myself; she loves me…unless I did something bad.

Maybe she's sick; after all she was acting really weird last night. What did Chiron call it? Inebriated? And she did sing; Armony never does that. The only time she ever sings is when she's alone; although she did sound really pretty. That's it! Armony must be sick! I jumped out of bed and pulled off my pajamas. I grabbed my clothes and dressed as quickly as I could. I heard a groan and looked at Travis getting up from his bed.

"Hey, Max" Travis rubbed his eyes and sat up. "So what are you doing up so early?" He looked at me. Travis and Connor were both really cool but they are way too easy to pull pranks on or pick pocket. Armony usually notices.

"I'm going to go check on Armony." I said.

"Oookay." He yawned. "But your shirt's on backwards." I pulled my arms into my shirt and turned it around. "Oh and take Connor with you." Travis smiled funny; he was up to something. "I can't let you go around by yourself." Seriously? I was eight years old; I could take care of myself. But Armony would have said the same thing.

"Okay." I went over to Connor's bed and heard him mumbling things into his pillow. I think he said 'Armony'. So I pinched him.

"Oww! What the Hades!" He yelled. I smiled; it was always fun to pull pranks on Connor. Especially stealing his money (so far I've made forty dollars off of him). He sat up on his bed and rubbed his shoulder where I pinched him. He looked at me and his face turned kind of red, then he started messing with his sheets in front of his legs. "What do you want Max?" He panted. I guess I shouldn't have pinched him.

"I wanna go visit Armony but Travis says you have to come with me." I answered. Connor glared at Travis, who went back to sleep.

"Fine, but why do you need to see Armony?" He said, getting up and getting dressed.

"Because she's sick, duh." How could he not figure that out from last night?

"Oh…" Then he smiled crookedly. I scrunched up my eyebrows but he put on his shoes and we left. The Apollo cabin wasn't very far so we got there pretty fast. Connor knocked on the door then yelled inside. "Hey Armony!"

"Ahhh!" Armony screamed. "What the He….are you doing you fu... as...cu…sh…lopsided…master…I'm going to s… then…shoot a po… with a monkey….shoved…up a...with extra…so you'll have to sh…sideways." Armony yelled at Connor. I pulled his hands off of my ears. I hate it when people cover my ears so I can't hear things. Armony looked at me her eyes were all red and she had a frown on her face. And I could smell vomit. I looked inside and saw the rest of the Apollo people were watching Armony.

"Armony are you okay?" I yelled. She winced.

"Yeah Max I'm alright just a little…" She didn't finish. Armony was too busy looking out of the cabin past me and Connor. I turned around and saw Rachel. Rachel is pretty, and nice, when Armony had fainted when we first got here Rachel gave me candy. And it wasn't the cheap stuff either.

"Hello guys." Rachel said, and then she turned to Armony. "Armony I need to speak with you." Rachel spoke quietly.

"Uh…sure, but what for?" Armony asked.

"For starters" Rachel began. "About what happened last night, and a few other things." I looked at Armony she didn't seem very happy.

"Okay just let me change." So she walked back into the cabin and shut the door.

"Hey Max" Connor said patting my head. I pushed his hand off; only mom, dad, and Armony are allowed to do that. "I think maybe we should go do something else. Armony is going to be busy for a while."

"Max," Rachel said. "How about you go find Tyson, I think he might have something to show you." Rachel smiled. And then I ran off to go find Tyson (Tyson is always making cool things) I could help Armony later. After all if she is sick I don't want to catch it.

**Armony POV**

I was going to kill Connor. Something tells me he knew I was in hangover mode. If he had something to do with this I was going to castrate him, then kill him, then go down to Tartarus* bring him back then kill him again. But right now I needed to talk with Rachel about….stuff. Gods my head is killing me. I dressed as quickly as I could; luckily my newfound siblings had already brought my stuff to the cabin. I put on my sunglasses and walked out of the cabin. None of my new sibs said anything, I just walked out. Rachel was standing outside waiting for me; there was no sign of Max or Connor.

"Come on Armony" Rachel beckoned me towards her and we walked to the Big House. "So it seems that your dad is Apollo, huh?" Rachel was being really nice talking quietly to prevent my discomfort.

"Yeah…" I said. I hadn't really had time to think about it. So, Apollo was my dad. Well…mystery over. I can't really say that I was happy I had always hoped that when I found out who my dad was, it would be because he wanted to meet me. I always imagined a reunion or something. It's not this was a letdown it's just that…Oh who am I kidding? I was disappointed. "So what does being his daughter actually entail? And for that matter why are you talking to me about this?" I asked. Rachel smiled.

"Remember I am the Oracle of Delphi. So Apollo is basically my boss." She said in a happier tone. She really enjoyed being the Oracle. "Anyway back to what that entails, well because Apollo is a god of prophecy his children have prophetic dreams."

"So…like what? We see the future?" I asked this was starting to hurt my head making the hangover worse. We got to the Big House and sat on the steps.

"Yes and no." Rachel answered. "See all demigods have dreams of the past or of events happening around them. But Apollo kids have regular dreams that can be used to interpret the future. And déjà' vu." I nodded; this was a lot to take in.

"So if I try to decipher my dreams they will tell me the future?" Rachel nodded. "Apollo kids can also heal people by praying to their dad right?" Rachel nodded again. I looked up at the sky ignoring the pounding. "Hey dad a little help with this hangover would be much appreciated." I said. I waited a little while and nothing happened, my head remained in pain. Hey, that rhymed.

"You're supposed to sing it." Rachel said matter-o-factly. Oh great. I looked around only a few people were up. And this pain was getting on my nerves. So I sang it to the tune of that Beetle's song…the one about holding someone's hand.

"_Hey dad_

_My head hurts _

_Oh so very bad_

_So please, heal me_

_That will make me glad_

_That'll make me glad_

_That will make me so glad."_

Okay not the most eloquent thing ever but it did the trick. Slowly the throbbing in my head began to slow and quiet until it disappeared. "Thanks dad!" I shouted without wincing from pain. I could get used to this. Rachel laughed at my outburst. "Okay what else can we do?"

"Well basically your abilities stem from Lord Apollo's abilities. Since Lord Apollo is the god of the sun, light, prophecy, healing, medicine, plague, truth, poetry, archery, the arts, music and intelligence you will have powers that in some way represent those titles." That was a lot to take in.

"Really?" My voice was hoarse.

"Yup." Rachel said simply. "More or less, some of them will just express themselves as heightened abilities.

"Cool." Honestly…this was getting to be a bit much. I really just wanted to forget about all of this. Rachel looked at me and my registered my turmoil.

"Look don't worry about it Armony, if anything comes up just come and talk to me and we will work through it." My mind immediately jumped to the dream I had had last night. It was to say the least a sexual dream. I had been tied to a rock about to be eaten by a monster then some guy came along killed the monster and well…I showed him gratitude. However I really didn't want to talk to Rachel about that. Rachel's cool but that's a little personal. So I changed the subject.

"Rachel, what do I do about this whole 'Apollo cabin counselor' thing?" I asked this was actually eating away at the back of my mind.

"Oooh, that…yeah that's gonna suck." I stared at Rachel my mouth open like a gaping fish. Rachel smiled and laughed at me. "It's not really that bad. Just get a list of what you're in charge of and do it." Then Rachel smirked. "And if you need any help you can always ask Connor." What was with that look?

"Sure…I'm gonna go take a shower now." I turned around to leave but Rachel called me back.

"Armony, I need to know, do you remember what happened last night?" I shook my head. "You should sit down."

**An hour later**

"I actually sang…in front of people?" I screamed. Out of everything Rachel told me this was the one thing that I was actually hung up on; not the bad accents, not the speaking in haikus, not the weird displays of flexibility (or the nearly making out with Connor for grapes) but the singing.

"Relax Armony. You were really good, especially despite you drunkenness." Rachel tried to console me to no avail.

"And that's another thing. How did I get drunk?" I remembered nothing at all from last night. "The last thing I remembered was getting grapes…from…Connor."

"Yeah, Chiron suspected this much. It wouldn't be first time the Stolls have spiked something." If Connor and Travis had anything to do with last night I was going to make them pay.

"Okay well I'm going to go…do something."

"Alright but remember tonight is Capture the Flag and since you're a counselor, if the Apollo cabin participates you will have to play." SHIIIIIT!

I left the Big House, grabbed my clothes and took a nice long shower. By the time I was done with my shower my stomach was making my hunger known. Due to missing breakfast I had to go to the Camp Store to buy some _junk_ food. I looked through the rows of what passed as food. Seriously, what the hell is a Mancho nut and why would it need be suspended in gelatin? After my rather unsatisfying lunch, I was not in the mood to join in the camp activities. So instead I walked aimlessly around the camp for about an hour trying to digest my new found ancestry. Apollo's daughter…well one of them there were only two, Kayla and I. And now I had twenty siblings the irony was suckish. As a kid I always wanted brothers and sisters and after Max arrived I realized I only needed one (I love him but being an only child wasn't bad). And Apollo was my dad, who had no interest in even claiming me until I 'proved' myself. I'm pretty sure I had a right to be pissed. But whatever, I decided to put more of my attention into something else. Like the boy who got me wasted and subjected me to a horrible hangover and made me sing in front of people. Yeah I was gonna do something I just wasn't sure what.

**I know it's short but This was as far as I could get before I got bombarded with homework…So I will be out of commission for a while.**

**Okay now I realize something very important…I need more pranks in this story for Connor and Travis to do so if anyone has any ideas, I will more than likely use them.**

**Also regarding how I left Max POV so quickly; he has ADHD. **

**About my * I came up with a sequel to this story (and I haven't even finished this story what is wrong with me?) Any guesses what it will be about.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Let's say hurray for a new chapter today.**

**BTW I wanted to practice writing a lemon so I kinda did. It's not a lemon (I guess that makes it a lime) but it's also not for prudes so….yeah.**

**Also it's about to get heavy.**

**Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_Ch.11 Capture the flag…'yay'_

While I walked around the camp aimlessly I tried to think of many ways to get back at Connor. Unfortunately every time I would walk next to a camper they would tell me how good I sounded last night and that they were looking forward to the next sing-a-long (or talk about my drunken stupor). How am I supposed to come up with a good revenge with people complimenting me? Crap, did Connor do me a favor? With my resolve fading fast I needed to remind myself. "Whether what he helped me or not isn't the point, he got me drunk, that is the point." And now I'm talking to myself.

I kept walking and found myself in the woods. "Shit, now I'm lost." And I did it again. I looked around and saw a light farther into the woods. Despite the fact that this could possibly be very dangerous I followed after the light anyway…And in the middle of the woods was a really nice red car. Okay I don't know much about cars (although I think it was a Maserati Spyder) but I can tell you that this car was hot. A really good looking guy was sitting on the hood of the car. He was tall, tanned had the whitest teeth I had ever seen, sandy blonde hair and sky blue eyes. He was wearing a tight white sleeveless t-shirt, jeans and loafers, looking like a model. Oh my gods I saw him before in my dream.

"Dad…?" I couldn't keep myself from saying it. He smiled and his teeth seemed to become even whiter, if that was even possible.

"Hey there Armony, it's good to see you." He walked closer to me. "Wow you have really grown. I feel a haiku coming on. _Young daughter I meet,_ _Years have gone by without me, Together again._" He smiled like he hadn't just recited the worst haiku I had ever heard.

"That's an understatement." I said venom in my voice. What can I say, I was pissed. His smile faltered.

"Armony I thought you always wanted to meet me. Here I am." He said opening his arms like invitation for a hug.

"Yeah, I guess I did." I backed away from him. "But I never pictured it in the middle of the woods, and for you to look like a year older than me. And why do you want to meet me now where were you when I was a little girl wasting every birthday wish _for you_!" All my rage began to bubble over even things I didn't even know I was angry about started to boil. And then the bigger button of rage was pressed.

"You proved yourself that is why I came to see you." He was sincere. And_ that's _what pissed me off the most.

"Why the hell should I have to prove myself to you, I am your daughter." I could feel tears prickling at my eyes. It was just like when I was little, was I not good enough for him? I could feel my heart breaking all over again, into little pieces.

"Armony you are the most talented child I've had since Orpheus." What was I to him some kind of trophy? He tried to explain I could see that he understood his actions but I didn't. "I wanted you to sing again and I knew I could use your desire to meet me to get you to do it." I couldn't believe it. I started to laugh, there was no humor in it and the sound was cold and harsh shocking even me.

"Really, well dad, did you know I stopped singing because of you?" I could see the shock in his eyes. He stayed quiet so I continued though every word was like a knife. "Every time I sang I always thought somehow you could hear me, that somehow my voice would carry to you. Every time I sang I always wished right before, that you would hear me that you would come and find and tell me you were proud of me or that you loved me." My tears started to fall but I ignored them. "I gave up on my voice. I knew if my voice couldn't make you come to me than it was no good."

"Armony…" He held out his hands to me.

"Just go Lord Apollo." I looked at the ground I just couldn't look at him. "Just leave me alone, you've been doing it for years."

"Armony, your mother asked me to stay away." He sounded angry, but he trying to blame this on my mother made me angrier still.

"Don't you dare try to blame this on my mom!" I yelled. I could see divine strength in his eyes it was like looking directly into the sun. But I was too angry to heed the obvious warning. "She told you not to reveal to me that you were a god, not that you weren't my father." His anger died down into what I assumed was guilt. I wanted this to end it was just too much. "Please, just go. I don't want to deal with this right now. If you care about me at all, then just leave."

"Fine." He sounded defeated. "But take this, it will help you." He handed me a bracelet with a golden sun on brown leather straps, with a star clasp. "I do care about you Armony, and I apologize for not being there." He got into his car and started it; the roar of the engine was like the roar of flames. I closed my eyes and when I opened them he was gone. So I sat on the grass and began to finish what he started, I began to cry, every tear I held in since I was old enough to cry over him.

**Lilith POV**

Interesting. Very interesting. To think I only came into the woods to sacrifice a few animals to mother and I get, again, a very interesting glimpse of Armony's family dynamic. She was like a female Luke. Oh Luke, how I miss you. Course he never gave me the time of day but if I knew what I knew now he would certainly be mine. How can I use what I just learned? She obviously had some horrible daddy issues. "Oh mother, I really do hate this girl." It would be too easy to just press her buttons, and if pushed too much she'll definitely push back. Armony held the thing Apollo had given her it sparkled with gold light. "I want that." I smiled as a plan began to unfold in my head.

"Armony?" Shit Katie totally cliché last name Gardner just had to come and ruin my fun. "Armony are you alright?" She put an arm around Armony.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay." Armony stood up wiping her tears. Hmmm, so the girl hides her true feelings from others and herself. "Did you want something Katie?"

"I came looking for you because capture the flag is going to start soon." Shit I forgot about that. Being a counselor means I have to participate in this stupid game. I guess it won't so bad to take a few of those Hunters down a peg though. I understand rejecting love but the company of men as well? It's just too tragic. Well I suppose I should get back too.

I stood in my beautiful black armor, like I was going to wear some kind of gaudy gold or bronze? Please. Myself, Percy, Annabeth (the smartest blonde in the world), Clarisse (the biggest girl in the world), Connor and Travis (the Clones), Katie, Jake (son of Hephaestus), Lois (blonde and perky daughter of Aphrodite), Nico the emo, Castor, Zoey Redbird (daughter of Nyx), Lucky (real name Lucifer, I mean I know we are all Greek gods and stuff but still, son of Hemera), Isa (daughter of Iris), Armony and a few other losers gathered at the site of our flag. Percy begins to bark orders that I barely listened to, I am much too busy checking out Lucky, gods he looks hot in armor. I mean seriously with golden hair and eyes the colors of the sky during sunrise, ooh it's got my blood boilin'.

"Have you got anything, Lilith?" Percy asked me breaking me out of my mental revelry.

"Uh, what?" I said prying my eyes away from Lucky's ass.

"He was asking if you have any spells you can cast on the flag." Annebeth so hotly filled me in.

"Sure I guess what do you need?"

"Something to help protect the flag." Percy said.

"I can set up a barrier but I have to be near it and keep my concentration." Though I had more powerful spells I didn't need to reveal them…that and they had a much higher price than just some energy and concentration.

"Good, you and Lucky will be our guard." Paired up with Lucky huh, I can dig it. Then I got lost in my fantasies while Percy, Annabeth and Clarisse started to assign everyone else. When they were finished Lucky and I stayed behind to 'protect' the flag. And the signal for the start of the game went off.

"Hey, Lucky." I said batting my eyelashes and flipping my hair. "So…I guess were alone now." He was going to supply me with some fun.

"Shouldn't you be making the barrier?" He raised an eyebrow. Uh, oh wait he's just playing coy.

"Sure." I pulled my sword and drew a circle with it around the flag. I pulled a few ingredients from my belt and placed them in their designated areas within the circle. I finished a pentagram with a few Greek symbols…and done. I crossed my arms and let the magic do my bidding, a dome of pink energy waved over the flag within the borders of the circle. Luckily (for Lucky) I can multi-task pretty well. "So, now what do we do?" I gave him my best flirtatious smile.

"I think it would be best if we tried to stay alert." OH MY GODS! Did he just snub me?

"Well why don't we just have some fun. Come on what do you say?" I puffed my chest to give him a good view of the girls.

"No." He said "no". How the hell could he say no?

"What do you mean 'no'?" I have to admit I was kind of hurt. I mean I'm hot!

"I just don't see you that way Lilith." Lucky said gently, like he was trying to spare my feelings.

"Why am I not hot enough? Or is it cause," My mind started reeling looking for another reason. "Do you like someone?" The surprised light in his eyes showed me all I needed to know. "Who is it?" I demanded.

"It's no one." He tried to dodge my question.

"If it's no one than that means you just don't like me." I let fake tears well up and put on my best puppy dog eyes.

"No. Lilith, it's not that…I…just…" My act was working I just needed one more tweak. I blinked and let a tears roll down my cheek. "Armony." He answered in a whisper.

"Armony." Her name felt like a bad taste in my mouth. "You like her." He nodded. Oh HELL no! I "When the hell did you start liking her?"

"I started having feelings for her after I saw her get hit by the confetti canon but ever since the sing-a-log I just can't get her beautiful voice out of my head." Lucky answered with obvious admiration and infatuation. I am not going to lose to her, no way.

"Well I'm sorry to tell you this but Armony is already dating someone."

"What?" Now I get his interest.

"Yeah she's dating…" Shit I really should have thought this through. But before I could say a random name a silver arrow flew at the ground releasing a disgusting smelling yellow gas. Ugh, fart. Stupid Armony, stupid Fart Arrow. I lost my concentration for just one second.

"Lilith, the Flag!" Lucky yelled for my attention. But it was too late I turned to see the flag had already been stolen. SHIT! I'll get you for this Armony, this is all your fault.

**Armony POV**

So I was supposed to look for people and shoot them if they were enemies. I could do that…I think. I mean shooting a target is one thing but a person for that matter is just a bit disconcerting. I was paired with Katie she would make a trap so it would be easier for me to take down any enemies.

"Armony keep an arrow at the ready." Katie said to me in an urgent whisper. I pulled an arrow out of the quiver and had it ready. I gotta hand it to Katie, I mean even after she saw my breakdown she wasn't pushing me for details she just hugged me and let me know she was there for me she was a really good friend. I should hang out with her more or at least do something nice for her. "Now look for a Hunter in the distance I want you to take a shot the minute you can confirm that the person is a hunter. Also make sure you aim for their chests the armor is thickest there is. Your arrow will only knock the wind out of them." Dang, Katie was really attentive to my feelings. Was she psychic? "No, Armony I am not psychic."

"Okay." Liar. I was about to protest when I flash of silver caught my attention. Katie saw my body go rigid. And turned to where I was currently staring.

"Alright, let's win this; I'm tired of the Hunters always winning." Katie placed her hand on a tree and roots began to rise beneath the ground ahead of us making the footing unbalancing. I pulled the string back on the bow a young girl showed up bow at the ready. I felt my hesitation but I was too late to try and stop it. My fingers knew what to do before I even told them. The arrow released with the musical twang of the bow accompanying it. The girl didn't know it was coming. The guilt hit me like the arrow hit her, in the chest and really hard. "Armony it's just a game don't worry about it." Katie tried to console me. I repeated what she said in my head over and over as I shot arrow after arrow at the Hunters who were breaching our territory. However I was a bit too involved in that, that I didn't see an arrow fly toward me yellow sulfurous gas burst from it in thick waves as it hit the tree next to Katie and us. "Oh my gods this smells nasty!" Katie yelled. I took a big whiff.

"Nah, not really. I mean it is really thick though." Katie looked at me through watering eyes, which I could barely see. I grabbed her hand and tried to pull us out of the fart smoke.

"How are you not disgusted by this smell?" She yelled either annoyed or impressed. I couldn't really tell.

"I once had a science project once that dealt with flowers and how well they grow in certain substances." I tried to explain.

"Yeah but that doesn't explain…"

"Certain substances meant pretty much anything I could find. And after sitting in test-tubes for over a month, 'certain substances' got kinda ripe." I kept forgetting to dump the stuff out and replace it with new batches, so the stuff sat in the sun for over a month. That and when I took it to school I tripped on another kid's project and spilled it on the floor. Then kids started to vomit…Long story short I was forced clean the entire gym. No bad smell will ever faze me again. But I got first place so…

I pulled Katie out into the fresh air to be greeted by three Hunters of Artemis. Though they were surprised by us they quickly had their bows and arrows pointed at us. I looked at Katie, we locked eyes. She knew what I was thinking but she was definitely not willing. "Bye." I farewell-ed to the Hunters and Katie and I jumped back into the fog of yellow nasty. We kneeled low to the ground. Encase they decided to shoot some arrows, although that is clearly stated against in the Artemis Hunter's Handbook (yeah the hunters had a handbook, they gave me one). SNAP! Katie and I turned to see two figures coming toward us through the smoke. They were coughing and had swords.

"Damn, Travis, this stuff is still as rank as ever." I recognized the first blob as Connor immediately. They walked forward a bit more and I could see them covering their mouth with their eyes watering. Travis spotted us kneeling on the floor.

"Hey Katie, Armony." Travis waved 'hi'. I totally noticed how he said Katie's name first. But then I realized he was telling the hunters that we were still in the stink cloud. "What are you guys doing on the ground?" Katie and I both tried to tell him not to talk but it was too late. A bola came flying through the yellow cloud and tied itself around Travis, another came and found Connor knocking him over. At the grunts the guys made as they hit the ground the sound of quick footsteps could be heard coming closer. Katie pulled us behind a tree. The footsteps stopped by the tree we were hiding behind.

"Hey, Phoebe we found them!" A Hunter yelled. Urgent footsteps came closer.

"Looks like we have some prisoners, girls." Phoebe's voice was clear and triumphant.

"Hey let us go!" Connor yelled.

"Please after what you did last year I think I'm just going to drag you around for all your friends to see." She wasn't kidding either cause as soon as she finished saying that I could hear Connor's protests and the sound of scratching/dragging. "Grab the other one!" Phoebe ordered.

"Oh come on can't we talk about this." Travis sounded almost charming. Weird.

"Ugh!" Someone grunted, a female someone. "This kid is stuck on a root he aint budging. Help me out." I looked at Katie, who smiled sheepishly. I rolled my eyes and got back to business. Man I wish I had asked to borrow some zai from Clarisse. We crept out from behind the tree to see three hunters, with their backs turned, trying to pull Travis free. I looked at Katie; she smirked. She put her hands on the ground and roots began to grow around the Hunters legs, they squeezed tight and the hunters were immobilized, from the knee down. "What the-" Katie and I whacked them, knocking them out.

"Why was that so easy?" I asked. Seriously, I was expecting a fight. The smoke was clearing up well, so the smell was faint and visibility had become way better. Katie removed the root from Travis.

"Thanks." He said looking into Katie's eyes.

"Your welcome." She smiled back, a faint blush on her cheeks. Oh my god, every part of my being wanted to squeal this was so cute! But I had to end their moment.

"Uh guys I think we should probably try to rescue Connor." Travis blinked a few times and recognition shined in his eyes.

"Yeah, your right." Travis stood up and began walking…until he tripped over one of the new roots and twisted his ankle. "Holy crap that hurts." He said. Although another thing I noticed he didn't once try to blame Katie. "You two will have to go without me." I saw the guilt clearly in Katie's eyes. Gods I can't believe I was about to do this, but they looked so cute.

"No, I think Katie should stay with you Travis." Katie looked surprised by my idea but I know she was okay with it. I left before either of them could say a word of opposition.

So now I was wondering around the woods trying to stay hidden. I honestly had no plan. I followed the drag marks (ironic that the hunters were the ones who taught me how to track, huh?) and I was getting close. I looked at the bracelet dad had given me. It was very hard to stay impartial towards the gift since I had so many mixed feeling. It was pretty, very shiny, but it wouldn't give off a glare, weird. Oh well. I had crossed into the hunter's territory and was feeling on edge, from my peripheral I saw a flash of silver I turned to be face to face with Artemis. "Artemis." I said surprised.

"Hello there, my niece." She smiled.

"Do I call you Aunt Artemis, or…" Okay I know it was random but it was the first coherent thing I could say. Artemis giggled.

"Only in private, I still need to keep up appearances." She answered with a little affection.

"Or maybe I should call you something else I mean aren't you like my god-mother?" It was a joke but Artemis took it seriously.

"I suppose I am, so if you come up with something affectionate but still respectable I will accept it." Okay. I moved my right hand to scratch the back of my head, Artemis eyes moved to my bracelet. "I see your father gave you the sun bracelet."

"Oh, yeah." I looked at the bracelet again. I didn't expect it to have a name or anything.

"Well, you are wearing it backwards. The sun goes over the inside of your wrist." She grabbed my hand and situated the bracelet to the correct position. "The bracelet is worn this way so you can use its power." Artemis reached into a pocket of her dress and pulled out another bracelet. She placed it on my wrist the same way. It had a silver crescent moon on a bed a silver Celtic knots that laced into the leather straps of the bracelet. The crescent was particularly beautiful it had veins of what I think was moonstone, a mysterious lustrous white. "Of course to use that power you must have the sister bracelet."

"Artemis, I can't accept this." I was bewildered. Could I really accept something so wonderful?

"You are my niece, and if my brother is going to give you that bracelet then you should have the other as well." I looked into her eyes, she wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. "Now, I want you to flick your left wrist outward." I did. The crescent changed into a silver bow. It had the same luminous veins carved trough it. It fell into my palm it had quite a bit of weight to it but it also felt weightless in my hand. Yes, I am aware that did not make sense. Artemis smiled at my reaction to her gift. "Now I want you to pretend as though you are getting an arrow ready to shoot." I did as she asked. But as I pulled back the string an arrow of light was rested on the bow ready to be released.

"What?" I said questioning the white light, small light particles released as I held it in place, like when snowflakes fall in sunlight.

"Aim and release." I took aim on a tree, there were very many it wasn't hard to find a target. I released the arrow it flew like a normal arrow but it was like a comet as it went. It hit the tree and in its place was a small hole like what a normal arrow would have made. "These arrows are made from sun light." Artemis began to explain. "Their power will also increase with your determination and killing intent, so if you aren't set on killing they will merely strike your target. Also since they are charged from the sun you can only use these arrows while the sun is in the sky. To change the bow back into a crescent just flick your wrist again and let go."

"Thank you, so much." I threw my arms around Artemis and hugged her tightly. I released her when I realized what I had done. She didn't look angry just amused.

"You welcome, now remember what I had asked you before." Oh, yeah. Did I want to be a hunter? I really hope she wouldn't obliterate me.

"I'm sorry Artemis. But I can't." She looked at me without saying a word, giving away no emotion. I realized she was waiting for me to explain. "I can't leave behind my family." I felt more confident in my choice once I had actually said it. "I don't want to join. I don't want to leave my family. My mom and my brother both need me and I need them." She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Is there any other reason?" She so subtly implied love. I thought and I wasn't in love with anybody but I kind of hoped to be someday.

"I am not in love but someday I think I might want that. And I would rather not break an oath to you just to have it." She nodded at my answer.

"I knew you would tell me that, however I can't help but feel a bit disappointed." She shrugged. "Oh, well. But I do believe that you should return to the game. You will find the Hunter base right over that ridge." I looked to see where she pointed but when turned back to her she was gone. I sent a silent thank you prayer and began to move. Like Artemis had said the base with the flag was just over the ridge. I stayed hidden and looked over. Phoebe and another girl were just finishing tying Connor to a tree. I looked Connor over, one of his legs was all bloody and scratched up but it didn't look too bad. Maybe I should just leave him here to Phoebe after all he did get me drunk. I flicked my wrist and my bow shrunk back into a crescent. I still had my regular bow and if I get captured I could use it as a backup. I readied an arrow though I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do. I shot my arrow to rustle a few braches on the opposite side from Connor.

"Go check that out." Phoebe ordered the other girl. The girl left and Phoebe began to scope her surroundings. But I got ninja skills.

SNAP! Crap, stupid ninja skills! A silver arrow came flying my way. It embedded in the tree next to me. I hid behind something very leafy. I tried to pin point Phoebe's location, I looked from my hiding place to see the hunter's flag floating and moving away toward the river. Well that was different. "Damn the flag." Phoebe cursed, running off after the flag. I took my chance. I ran toward the tree, Connor smiled when he saw me.

"Hey, come to save me?" He smirked but winced a little from his leg.

"No I'm here to make cupcakes?" I said sarcasm dripping. He looked taken aback by my venom. I was still pissed.

"Is this about last night?" He picked up what this was about pretty easily, was he psychic too? I used the head of one of my arrows to saw through the ropes.

"Done." I said as the ropes fell. "Can you walk?" I eyed his leg it was really scraped up but nothing horrible.

"Yeah I think I can." He tested out his leg. "It hurts but it's really just a bunch of scrapes from the forest floor." He paused. "About last night…"

"I don't want to hear it Connor." I started walking back toward the river. "You shouldn't have gotten me drunk."

"Oh come on. You asked for the grapes." If looks could kill Connor would have been halfway to Tartarus by now. "I only did it to loosen you up so you would sing and now your dad has claimed you and everyone liked your singing." He tried to explain.

"I don't care about your reasons." Bringing up my dad made me even angrier now.

"I thought your singing was beautiful." He whispered. Crap, now I was getting close to forgiving him. But luckily before I could think anymore about it a really loud horn started to play a loud monotone note that signaled the end of the game.

"Come on lets go."

As it turns out the hunters won. Annabeth and had made a mad dash for the finish, all invisible style, but Thalia had beat her across the river a few seconds ahead of her. But the Hunters' victory was short-lived since Artemis had been there she congratulated them and then took them on their merry way. So now I was in the infirmary with the rest of the Apollo cabin and the wounded. I was sitting in a corner trying not to bring attention to myself. But Chiron had different ideas about that.

"Armony I think you should try to help heal the wounded." Chiron looked at me like a teacher who was trying to push his student.

"Chiron I don't even know how to do that." I protested weakly. The look in his eyes told me this was going to happen whether I wanted it to or not.

"Well this makes it the best time to practice." Chiron smiled like he had all the world's confidence in me.

"Fine, what do I do?" I relented. His grin widened and he beckoned Kayla over to us. "Okay Kayla how do I heal people."

"Well, all of Apollo's children are gifted with talents that deal with healing however; by singing a prayer to our dad he is able to awaken the supernatural healing abilities." Huh?

"Huh?"

"Have you ever seen Charmed?"

"Yeah I love that show!" I really did. I actually saw it a statement of female empowerment. That and it was a really good show…and Piper's son Wyatt was so cute! One day, I would love to have cute little boy like that.

"Okay well you know that episode where they find out that Paige is their sister but the Source stabbed Cole." I nodded. "Well you know how Paige is able to heal Cole with Leo's help? It's kind of like that." Okay that made more sense.

"So I just sing a song as a prayer to Apollo?" I kind of didn't want to Dad, mixed feeling were still around.

"Basically, but if you know how something should go about healing that helps and your determination too, so it's best to be focused on healing only. And depending on what needs to be healed touching can help the effects." She smiled comfortingly. "Just sing whatever comes to mind when you start healing."

"So who do I heal first?" I looked around at potential patients.

"I think you should heal Connor first." Chiron sorta suggested. He walked me over to the bed Connor was lying on. "Connor Armony is going to try to heal you, it that alright?"

"Sure." Connor looked to me. Chiron put a hand on Connor's shoulder.

"Remove your pants Connor." My eyes went like saucers as I looked at Chiron. He must of known I was about to protest. "Armony, as a medic you will have to remove the clothes of you patients to get a better assessment of their injuries." Ah crap. Connor stood off of the bed and removed his pants he hissed when they went passed his leg. He got back on the bed in his underwear, looking sexy and smirking. Just looking at him was making my face tingle with the familiar heat and an unfamiliar heat somewhere lower. I wanted to wipe that smirk off of his face.

"Okay let me look at you leg." Thank gods that came out coherently. I put a tentative hand on his leg I could feel the taut muscles underneath my hand, the tingling increased. Then I thought of revenge. "I think it would be beneficial if I clean his wound before I continue with the healing." I mused out loud. I grabbed rubbing alcohol from the stand next to Connor's bed and began to rub it against his wounds. I smiled as he tried not to scream from the stinging pain I know he was feeling.

"Uhm, Armony." My focus was set on my vengeance that I didn't hear Chiron speak. "Armony I think maybe you should continue with the healing now. Armony!" I snapped out of my trance of dark pleasure. "Maybe we should have you heal Lucky instead." I stood up and walked with Chiron to another bed.

"Hey." I greeted. I had never met this guy before. He was pretty cute. His hair was like strands of gold, his eyes were the like the painted dawn, bright pinks oranges and yellow blended on a back of blue and purple. The colors would drift and change slowly like watching an actual sunrise. They were captivating. Like big time. "I'm Armony." I held out my hand to shake. He took it and I swear I felt an electric shock.

"I'm Lucky." If I hadn't already known his name was Lucky I would have sworn he was hitting on me, which I wouldn't have minded actually. He smiled. One word dimples!

"Okay, so where are you hurt?" I returned to business.

"My chest. I was hit with a few arrows when I went to chase the hunter that stole the flag. However my armor prevented them from actually piercing." I looked at his armor I could see the dents in the metal.

"Alright, take off your armor and shirt." I was actually trying to be professional but when he took off his shirt professionalism flew out the window. I blew out a breath as I looked at his chest and the defined ridges of his stomach. Two large rather nasty looking bruises; one his left breast, over his heart and the other was a little below his sternum to the right.

"Armony, remember that it is best to know exactly what you are trying to heal." Chiron said over my shoulder. I nodded. I looked into Lucky's eyes, he seemed to get what I was trying to tell him because he braced himself. I felt around his bruises testing the muscle and bone underneath, it felt normal. His skin was smooth under my touch and those electric tingles decided to reappear. Okay I was as ready as I was ever going to be.

"Lucky, I'm going to try healing you now." He nodded. I closed my eyes and sent a prayer to my dad. "Father, Lord Apollo, please help me." I began to sing the words that filled my head.

_See not through eyes, nor hear from ears_

_And help me stop these woeful tears_

_From falling, from falling_

_May, health abound with this sound_

_Heal, scrape, bruise and break_

_Lessen pain and given gain_

_Replace with pleasure_

_All that hears my melody_

_Be healed, be healed_

_Power that is mine to wield_

_Heal, heal, heal_

**Connor POV**

I guessed deserved the whole disinfecting thing but watching Armony 'inspecting' Lucky had made my leg start to burn even more. But seeing her blush when I had to pull off my pants was just so cute. I tried to stay on the fact that I was only person (that I know of) to make Armony blush like that. But when she started singing the stinging in my leg disappeared. In fact it felt really good. Like something was caressing it making it feel warm and cool at the same time. Yeah, that was the best way to explain it.

"Does anyone have an Advil?" Armony asked. She was rubbing her temple. Then a crimson drop of blood began to descend from her nose. And she fell on the floor.

"Armony!" I shouted. I was too freaked to realize that Lucky had shouted too, until he was out of his bed propping Armony up. Kayla and Will were by her side in a flash, taking her from Lucky (thank gods).

"Don't worry she just used too much of her power to heal." Will explained.

"What do you mean I only had a few bruises how could that have taken so much energy?" Lucky questioned before I could.

"On the contrary," Kayla looked at the rest of the people on the beds in the infirmary. "How many of you are no longer in pain." I looked down at my leg to see that all the cuts and scratches were gone. "Armony healed all of you with her song. So get out of here." Kayla ordered everyone out, Chiron helped shoo the newly healed out. Will and the rest of the Apollo cabin took Armony back to their cabin. I was about to put my pants back on when Kayla stopped me.

"Not so fast." She looked at me with an weird stare. "Armony healed everyone because of her desire to do so."

"Aaaand?" I questioned. I kind of would have liked to out my pants back on.

"She wasn't exactly on good terms with you when she did the healing. So you need to stay in here tonight, in case what she did wears off." She had a no nonsense look that I had seen Armony give before.

"Chiron." I looked to him to see if he could talk some sense into her. I mean my wounds (if you could even call them that) weren't anything horrible.

"I agree with Kayla Connor." With that they left and I was left to spend another night in the infirmary, but this time alone.

**Later that night**

Damn this was boring. My leg was still fine but I was restless, I couldn't get to bed. Every time I closed my eyes I would see one of two things: Armony collapsing or , Armony 'healing' Lucky. Either wasn't something I wanted to see. Then I heard footsteps.

"Connor?"

"Armony?" At the entrance to the infirmary Armony was standing in her beige night gown.

"Hey." She said again just looking at me.

"What'cha doing over here? Come to check up on me?" I smirked. I was actually hoping that she did. She walked over to my bedside; the sway of her hips catching my eyes.

"Actually I was hoping for an apology." She narrowed her eyes.

"Armony…I…I was just trying to help you." She looked down at me.

"So you're not going to apologize." Armony started to turn out of the room.

"Armony wait!" She turned.

"I'm sorry…but I just wanted you to be able to sing. I knew that you wanted to sing, and you deserve to be able to do that without having to worry about other people. I'm sorry I got you drunk but your beautiful." She looked shocked and walked over to the side of my bed.

"Did you say that I'm beautiful?" She said confusion on her face but also amusement.

"No! I said that your voice is beautiful." I quickly went over what I said. Oh crap.

"So you don't think I'm beautiful." Armony looked hurt.

"I mean that too. It's just…I…" Armony kissed me. Her lips were soft and warm and felt so freakin good against mine. Something in Armony's eyes changed. She straitened up and looked me in the eye.

"Tell me Connor how do I look," Armony reached for the straps on her nightdress. "Now" Her dress fell to the floor in a puddle of fabric. Armony was in her lacy red bra and thong. Holy shit!

"Uhm…yeah, wow." Was my response. She climbed onto me bed straddling my legs. She kissed me again. She pulled back and smiled. Her blue eyes were darker than usual.

"Touch me." She whispered. Don't have to tell me twice. I moved my hands to Armony's breasts. Their weight against my palm felt so soft and….fuckin' awesome. She moaned as I moved my hands massaging her. "Oh gods Connor." Holy shit, this was awesome! She moved her hands down my chest across my stomach and to the bulge in my pants. Armony began rubbing until I was painfully hard. She stopped. And I think I whimpered (that's pathetic right). I looked at her again, she smirked. One of her hands snaked its way into my boxers and grasped me. Now it was my turn to moan.

Then I woke up.

**That was fun right?**

**Any way let me explain a little about this chapter. Like all of the random Cabin Counselors. I figured it made sense that since all the gods had cabins now that the Counselors would be the ones to partake in Capture the Flag against the Hunters. However each of the ones I named will have a purpose later on in the story (except for one, guess who). Not a big purpose but they are there for a reason.**

**Also the creation of Lucky, He was really just created because I needed someone to anger Lilith. I thought of using Malcolm but that interfered with the above reason. So I just decided to create someone. However there is a mutual attraction between the two and there is a really good reason for it that I don't want to get into it.**

**Next chapter will probably be really short. Like 2,000 words or less. It will really exist for the sake of entertainment. I mean pranks, Armony adjusting to counselour duties, Boy drama, Lilith Drama, and some other stuff and to take up time. Next chapter really will be there for setting up later story arcs too. Maybe I should make it a compilation of certain stuff. Actually some feedback on that would be helpful. Because with that birthday involved well I now need to take up time in the story.**


	12. Chapter 12

**After I wrote chapter 11 I was itching to start writing another chapter. Normally I write a Siren Song chapter, then a Paint it Black chapter then a The Last of the Grey chapter but this time I skipped the others and went straight into writing this! SO…yeah.**

**Also: thinking of getting a Beta.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. But I totally claim The Lost City of Atlantis as my own creation (too bad it got sunk).**

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

_Ch. 12 Ugh…just ugh_

I was flying. And it was really cool. I looked over my shoulder and saw large white wings sprouting from my shoulder blades. Okay I knew I was dreaming but it was too cool to give up on at the moment. It was just me and the sky. But suddenly I wasn't alone dad was with me too, in his chariot/car. As I looked at him I realized he _wasn't _a dream. He beckoned me over to him. I flew over next to the sun, thanks gods this was a dream (because I would have been burnt to a crisp).

"Hey kiddo." Dad smiled and it was so fatherly and proud I couldn't help but feel happy.

"What do you want?" I said all no nonsense like.

"I want you to give me another chance. I am your father Armony and I do love you." I looked into his eyes, so much like mine, and saw only sincerity. I wanted to give him a chance, I wanted a dad. The dreams I had as a little girl suddenly appeared in my mind again. I saw myself with my dad dancing at my _quincenera_. I saw him holding a birthday cake waiting for me to blow out the candles. I saw myself playing my violin on stage and as I finished I saw him and mom smiling at me with pride. But there was so much that we had already missed out on. But future hopes flowed and flickered like a warm flame inside of me. I saw dad watching me with mom as I _sang_ on stage. Him walking me down the aisle dancing at my wedding. I saw Him holding his grandchild; my child. I wanted that. I wanted a real family. But could really have it?

"I-I don't know." I said answering myself more than him.

"Armony did you ever wonder why you have freckles when you are so tan?" Okay that was out of nowhere.

"Yeah." I answered attentively. Seriously where was he going with this?

"Had you ever heard that freckles were kisses from the sun?"

"Well yeah that the corny way for parents to help freckled kids get over having freckles. My mom used to…tell…me…that." I looked at my dad and he was smiling like a teenager, who had just been given their first iPod. "Oh my gods for real?" He smiled again and nodded. Okay totally cheesy but he's my dad, and it made me feel happy. "Fine, we'll try the father daughter thing." I said with more hope than I had meant to give.

"_Forgiving and smart_

_My daughter is my pride and joy_

_Happy together"_

Dad recited another horrible haiku. "Dad," I felt myself smile as I said the word. He smiled too. "There is one thing you need to know about haikus besides that they are horrible." I recited one of my own.

"_Haikus are poems_

_Sometimes they do not make sense_

_Refrigerator"_

**/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\**

I woke up feeling better than I had in a while. Though things with my dad weren't exactly fixed, there was room for a future. It made me feel all warm inside like kittens were growing in my stomach. I got up and went through the morning ritual of a shower. I really woke up early cause the sun wasn't even out yet. I started to ponder what to do with my free time but I was interrupted by footsteps; someone was running. I turned to see a hooded figure coming out of the forest quickly. I screamed.

"Armony! Calm down it's just me, Lucky." He pulled the hood on his sweatshirt down to expose his golden hair.

"Lucky you totally scared the living daylight's out of me." I tried to calm my erratically beating heart. "What are you doing out here?"

"Well my mom is goddess of the dawn waking up at dawn is just something I do." Lucky explained, sorta.

"I guess that is why you would be up but I asked why you were out here." I looked into his sunrise painted eyes.

"Oh," He smiled sheepishly. "I was just jogging." I narrowed my eyes; I was not convinced. I guess that whole Apollo is god of truth thing was kicking in.

"Uh-huh."

"By the way I wanted to thank you for healing me yesterday." That caught me by surprise.

"O-oh, you're welcome." I could feel myself blush as I thought of how his skin had felt against mine. Then my face got hotter when I thought about how I had fainted after I healed him.

"I gotta say I'm really impressed with your healing. I've gotten hurt tons of times before and Will and Kayla have healed me before but it never felt anything like that." His eyes bore into mine I smiled but looked down at the ground.

"Thanks." I moved my focus to Lucky but he was looking at the sky. "Lucky what are you looking at?" I looked back toward the brightening sky; rays of light could be seen toward the horizon.

"My mom." He answered. I had no idea what he meant. But as I looked at the sunrise I couldn't help but notice that it mirrored the color of his eyes perfectly that's when it hit me. Lucky's mom was the dawn, or at least the personification of it. He pulled out a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and put them. He smiled at me again. And pulled out another pair and handed them to me. "This way I can watch the sunrise without going blind. My mom gave me an extra pair encase I lost one." I put them on and looked to the rising sun. It was actually kind of strange, in a good way.

Hemera was beautiful. She had the same eyes and blonde hair as Lucky she was dressed in a light blue robe. She even had wings of pure light. Like all the other gods she looked young but something about her showed that she was much older than she looked. Just her presence exuded ancient power and grace. She waved at Lucky and me too, and then she dispersed night's mists, bathing the earth again in the shining light of heaven. Seriously that was the only way to describe it.

"_Dawn's painted colors_

_New beginnings found once more_

_The day starts with hope"_

Hemera waved good bye and sent another smile toward Lucky. Then what happened next had me chocked up.

My dad was driving the sun across the sky. He looked down at me and smiled like I had seen in my dream; I couldn't help but beam back. He looked from me to Lucky and then sent one of those 'knowing smiles', and I know I blushed even redder that time. God of truth my ass, it was not what it looked like. But I guess that was one of those 'experiences' I wanted. Then the sunlight got to unbearable even with the magic sunglasses.

"Thanks." I told Lucky, squinting at the sun.

"You're welcome." He smiled at me and I could feel my knees go weak. Damn he's good looking! "You can keep those." I was shocked; these were a gift from his mother, could he really just give them away like that?

"Lucky I'm not sure if I can accept these." I really wanted to accept them though, I would be able to see dad.

"Go ahead; I want you to have them." I was so happy I just hugged him. I took him by surprise but after he realized that I was going to give him his gifts worth he wrapped his arms around me and hugged back. The electric tingles were back. I detached from the hug, something was getting awkward.

"Uh, well thank you again Lucky." Then we parted ways. He went to go take a shower and I walked to the mess hall ready for breakfast. But on my way I saw Katie walking over and remembering yesterday's capture the flag I had to get the gossip.

"Hey, Katie!" I called to her. She turned around and waved to me and waited for me to catch up.

"Well you look better than you did after you healed all those campers." The heat returned to my cheeks, stupid fainting.

"Well I feel better." I looked at Katie. She was smiling at me but the smile wasn't very sincere. "Katie, are you alright? You seem a bit distracted." Katie's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh, does it show?" I nodded. "Well I just have some things on my mind."

"Do these things on your mind have anything to do with Travis?" Her cheeks reddened giving me my answer. "Katie what is wrong when I saw you guys during capture the flag you looked so cute together." Her blush deepened but the look in her eyes showed it was from anger instead of embarrassment. She sighed.

"While I was helping him, he started talking about pranks he could pull on the Hunters and I was just reminded of all the fights we've had I mean we are rivals not…anything else. Then we started arguing and I called him a dilettante." Katie was so conflicted.

"Katie, so what? You guys just got started on the wrong foot. Don't give up on it you two obviously like each other." Katie smiled but it turned into a grimace.

"I don't know if it's that easy I mean my siblings aren't all that fond of him and it's my fault. They didn't like him much either after the whole 'Chocolate Bunny' incident, but I only fanned the flames. Gods I am such a hypocrite." Poor girl maybe she should pray to Aphrodite for some guidance.

"Chocolate Bunny Incident?" I asked, okay I'm not subtle at all; I admit I have no ninja skills.

"Ugh, yeah, He and Connor put Chocolate Easter Bunnies on the Demeter cabin grass roof." I could see the anger in her posture. I hoped I wasn't going to regret this.

"That really doesn't sound so bad." I was confused how chocolate rabbits could be so bad.

"I know what you are thinking, that they were your typical Chocolate Easter Bunnies right?" I nodded at her rhetorical question. "Well they weren't that kind, they were alive. They were still made out of Chocolate but they were alive. They ate the grass and made little chocolate…feces. We had to rake them out of the roof, and even though the…feces…were chocolate they still smelled like the real thing." Okay it was kind of funny. Especially because Katie whispered the word 'feces' like it was really bad cuss word like c*** or tw***, or even m***. "Oh by the way there's a counselor meeting before breakfast." Katie effectively changed the subject. I wanted to continue our talk but she gave me that 'end of discussion look'. We walked to Big House and stood around a ping pong table with Chiron (who was in his wheelchair) waiting for more counselors to show up. Connor and Travis showed up first. Travis walked over to me and Katie but Katie literally huffed off to talk with Chiron. Leaving Travis a little deflated. I wanted to say something to him but talking about relationships with guys is really awkward. So I moved on to the other brother (hah that rhymed; I should start writing limericks).

"Good morning Connor." I greeted Connor but then I thought about what I did last night and began to feel guilty. It was probably totally illogical to feel guilt about this but I felt it anyway. "Uh Connor I wanted to apologize for what I did last night."

"Oh, yeah uh apology accepted." I wanted to believe him but since he wouldn't look me in the eye I figured something was up.

"Connor, look at me!" His eyes met mine and I could feel my cheeks (for like the fifth time this morning) heat again. "Look I'm sorry for putting the rubbing alcohol on your cuts and stuff but I was still angry about the singing and the grapes." I shook my head to try and get rid of the blush. "Do you forgive me?"

"Yeah, of course It was pretty good comeback." He smiled like his regular self. I couldn't help but return it. "Course now I might have to get back at you." He whispered under his breath.

"Wait what was that?"

"Nothing." He smirked. I was about to pry it out of him when Chiron brought us to attention.

"First of all I would like to commend you all on your performance in last night's Capture the Flag. Though we didn't win I know you all did your best." No one really felt like we did well so Chiron got silence and crickets. "Anyway this morning it is time to set up your partners for this month's Cabin inspectors." At that he got a better reaction.

"Uh?" I so intelligently uttered. So Chiron took a little time to explain what was going on while I received death glares from Lilith (sorry for asking questions). "Okay."

"So please pair up." Everyone went into a mad dash for a partner, no surprise Percy and Annabeth paired up as did Travis and Connor. While looking I spotted Lucky across the room, but at the moment when I heard partners I had already hatched a plan so instead I grabbed Katie. When everyone was paired up Chiron called a role call while each person told him their partner. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this in front of a crowd, gods I hate being center of attention.

"Hey Chiron is it fair that two kids of Hermes get to inspect and rate a cabin together?" I raised my hand like in school. I could feel the nervousness moving through my veins telling me to shut up.

"What do you mean?" Shit now I had to explain.

"W-well isn't it a bit biased that Connor and Travis get to be paired up?" Damn I hate this but I needed to do it. I spotted Lois from the corner of my eye. I tried to discretely gesture with my eyes to Katie and Travis. Her mouth twitched to form a small 'oh'.

"I agree Chiron I think it is unfair." She sent a look toward Annabeth who spoke her compliance.

"Alright Travis and Katie switch partners." Chiron began writing the switch on his clipboard. Shit, this wasn't going like it was supposed to.

"No!" I said louder than I meant. He looked at me with confusion written on his face as did everyone else. "I mean I want Connor." Oh shit! The snickers and giggling made my face feel like a furnace I was so sure it probably looked like it had been in a furnace as well. "No I don't _want_ Connor like that!" I received more laughs.

"Oh." Connor uttered a fake depressed sigh.

"N-no I mean-I-I you know what I mean." I put my hands over my face to hide the looks I was receiving but that did nothing for the sounds. The things I do to hook two people up.

"Okay." Chiron took pity on me. "Katie and Travis will be partners and Connor and Armony will be partner. He said with finality writing down the change. "Alright, meet here at the beginning of your free time to receive a list of cabins." Everyone started to walk over to the Mess Hall but Chiron called me back over to him. "Armony I was hoping we could talk about your responsibilities as the Apollo cabin counselor." Oh thank you gods, he doesn't want to talk about what just happened.

"Sure Chiron, what specifically?"

"Well about the Archery field." Okay I knew where this was going.

"Want me to fix it up?" He nodded. I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to fix it up besides that it needed a lot of new stuff. Oooh this might be fun. "Alright, give me a while to figure out a budget for the new equipment it is going to need and I will get back to you on it." He smiled a bit forced but it was the okay anyway (I really should write Limericks). I made my way to the Mess Hall (finally) and got my food I sat at the Apollo table but it felt really weird without Max sitting next to me. I stole a look over at the Hermes table to spy on my little brother. He was digging into some pancakes he seemed fine but…

**After a few activities **

So far after my little word mishap this morning the day had been pretty good. I got to fly with Snowday and it was _muy fantastico. _However training with Clarisse was pretty hard, we had a mock duel where I had my ass handed to me. I never want to meet her in a real battle, well on the opposing side anyway.

I spent the next three hours coming up with different ideas for the Archery field range which luckily I got some help from Annabeth (she was looking for Percy but found me instead). She came up with different ideas and schematics for targets and some other stuff. Although while drawing a design for some obstructions Annabeth kind of stopped talking to me, she was too busy typing on a computer with a triangle on it, and since it was close to free time (aka. Cabin inspection time) I pulled us off of the ground and guided her typing form to the Big House, all the while listening to her mumble about angles and materials and other architectural things. When we got to the Big House Connor and Percy were the only two people there.

"Are we early?" I asked.

"No, actually you guys are very late." Connor answered. Oops, I blame Annabeth.

"Ah crap!" Percy cried out. Connor and I both turned to him (Annabeth was still typing away). "What is Annabeth working on?"

"Just some schematics for the Archery field, why?" Percy's eyes got wide.

"She's gonna be like this all day." He was obviously distressed but I couldn't tell whether it was because his girlfriend was paying more attention to a computer than him, or because his inspections were going to take longer than normal now. "The last time she was like this was when she was redesigning Olympus." Percy scratched the back of his head and let out a sigh. I know Percy was feeling anguished but if Annabeth was good enough to redesign Olympus, the Archery field range was going to be off the chain*. I did feel a little bad for Percy though. Connor and I left the Big House with our list in hand to go and inspect some cabins.

**Lilith POV**

What to do, what to do? I had just finished my cabin inspections; Apollo cabin receiving the worst I could give them of course. And now I was bored. Thanks to Armony my harem had been severed and without being able to reactivate the spell I was left with nothing to entertain me. Sometimes I really miss the days of war; being able to slaughter my enemies, the amazing power gracing my veins. But it's all gone now. To state the truth I was quite disappointed in just giving them a bad rating, but I guess I'll do better when the opportunity presents itself.

"Well hello opportunity." A monster was standing just outside the barrier behind the Climbing Wall. The Minotaur was looking much more ferocious than usual as he beat his fist against the magical barrier. As I walked up to him our eyes met, I saw the recognition in his eyes. He stopped beating against the barrier and kneeled on one knee; just like I remembered. He must have just barely returned to his corporeal state since he was only wearing his fruit of the loom briefs. His hatred for Percy must have been really intense to have come straight here hell bent on revenge. "Rise Minotaur." He obeyed unquestioningly and silently (oh how I missed that). "Would you like to come inside, and have a little fun?"

He gave me some kind of cow grunt as an affirmative. I looked at the barrier; most people can't see it unless they are in tuned with magic, but I had already devised a way to open the barrier. I am so good (or is it bad?). Of course we were never able to use this during the war. The opening needed to be discreet, small and open only for a few seconds at a time or else the breach would be discovered easily. "I will allow you in," At that he stood up ready to have his violent fun. But I needed him to do me a favor first. First rule of magic: **nothing** is ever free.

"But you must get rid of someone for me first." He nodded his big cow head. I took notice that one of his horns had what looked like a jagged line around it; a reminder of his defeat from Percy. I focused magic into my hand and drew a circular portal in the air. With a quick motion, if I do say so myself, I pulled a hair from the portal. Armony's long black hair was coming in handy. I held the end between my thumb and index finger of my left hand while running my right hand's fingers across it while speaking ancient words of power. Yes, I am a genius; knowing four different languages just makes me oh so great. When I was finished I let the hair go, it began to float to the Minotaur as if it was caught in a breeze. He caught it in his really gross hand almost gently.

"Use this to find her than get rid of her." I commanded. He nodded his big meaty head. I moved the portal that was still in the air (no need to waste energy) it connected with the barrier. Red electric sparks appeared at the conjunction of the different magics. I extended my hands and widened my arms. The portal mirrored my control. The Minotaur stepped through.

Crap, with Percy having the Curse of Achilles this could end before anything ever gets done. "Hmmm. I guess I'll do a little something." I have got to stop talking to myself. Is thinking to myself the same thing? I mean it might be, talking is just verbalizing one's thoughts and- Damn you ADHD! I centered my thoughts and allowed my power to activate. Flames erupted on my fingertips. "Distract the campers." I commanded. With a flick of my hand the flames flew off and took the form of seven wolves. The flames that made their bodies seared the ground until it was black and burnt. "Go."

**Armony POV**

"Ouch!" I rubbed my head as I felt a hair pulled out. I turned to Connor behind me. "Why would pull my hair?" I accused.

"What?" Connor looked surprised; he's not a bad actor. "Armony I didn't do anything. Are you sure your hair didn't get caught on something?" He seemed sincere, but he was hiding something, he'd been acting strange ever since we entered the Demeter Cabin. Which by the way was really pretty, each bed was made from a tree and there were potted plants everywhere making the cabin smell fresh and floral and alive.

"Mmm hmm." I hummed. I was still suspicious.

"Come on let's get out of here." He put his arm around my shoulders; I have to admit it felt nice. Damn! How long has it been since I had a boyfriend. A month ago I was dating Skip, until he pressured me for sex the third time (I have a rule: three strikes and you're out). Anyway, something about Connor's smile put me on edge. It seemed a bit staged. Max used to smile like that before I tripped over something. Then I realized I left my pencil in the cabin. 

"Hold on." I detached Connor's arm from me. "I left my pencil in the cabin." I walked back inside. And grabbed my pencil from off of a bed I hat sat on. I looked down at the floor and saw a red rose just lying on the floor. It wasn't there when I was inspecting. I bent over and picked it up; pulling a string attached. "_Ay caca."_ Several bangs went off around the room, from each pot to be exact, sending petals, plant pieces and soil all over the cabin and me. "Connor." I said after a fit of coughs.

"Yeah?" Connor helped me up cracking up a bit, I could feel my cheeks blushing thanks gods for the dirt to hide the red.

"What did you do?" He smiled sheepishly.

"You remember the confetti canon?" I nodded but I knew where this was going. "I put a few in the flower pots."

"W-where would you even get that idea?"

"I saw it on iCarly." I love that show. Wait something doesn't add up.

"I've been here the entire time how did you put them in the flower pots?"

"Oh, well that was easy." But before he could explain I saw the one of the tree beds catch fire.

"Connor!" I pointed at the fire. He jumped back when he the flame suddenly grew bigger.

"Shit!"

I looked at him incredulously. "No, shit!" Then a loud angry sounding growl filled the air, it sounded kind of like the Hollows on Bleach, but angrier and well real. "What was that?" I said distracted from the growing flames. Then howling started in the distance. Connor and I ran out of the cabin. Tons of campers were running towards the Climbing Wall, many of them brandishing weapons. "What's going on?" I yelled, but I received my answer as a Minotaur stomped his way around aimlessly swatting at the campers underneath him. Every so often he would stop and sniff the air. I heard campers yelling in pain as I saw them trying to fight what looked like large foxes made of fire. Malcolm took a swipe at one with his sword but it went through the fire fox without harming it. He dropped the sword as it began to glow with heat.

"The swords don't work on the wolves!" He yelled to the other warriors (to call them any less at this moment would be an insult). Oh…wolves, that explains the howling.

"We need something magic to offset them!" Annabeth yelled out to the crowd. "Where are the Hecate cabin mates?"

"We're trying Annabeth." A girl yelled. She had a blue fire ball floating in her between her hands. "They're made with a magic originating from Hecate. Our power isn't significant enough." As if to demonstrate she shot the fire ball at a wolf it slowed it down but it the flames became a part of its body making it bigger.

"Where's Percy? We need his water manipulating abilities." Malcolm yelled to his sister. As if to answer two wolves howled as they circled Percy, keeping him from getting to the Minotaur.

"Connor what do we do?" To tell the truth I was scared. This place was supposed to be safe.

"We put our training to good use." Connor smiled confidently. "Armony go protect some of the younger campers." I nodded and ran off, as an afterthought I flicked my wrist and held my bow. I searched the crowd for Max. His dirty-blonde head was hidden behind Tyson along with a little girl who looked a lot like Annabeth. Two wolves were circling them. The wolves were closing in; I could see the sweat on Max's brow; that got me pissed. No one messes with my brother. I ran closer until I was only a few feet away. One of the wolves turned its attention to me. The other stayed circling.

"Okay." I pulled the string back and held the arrow at the ready. "Let's see what's stronger; arrows of light or wolves of flame." It leapt at me as I released the arrow and the wolf disappeared in a flash of light and heat accompanied by a howl of pain. I didn't have time to think so I let my instincts drive me I pulled back the string again and let another arrow fly. The other wolf disappeared in the same manner as the one before it.

"Yeah!" The three shouted. Of course Tyson's yell over powered the others but still. I grabbed Max and hugged him fiercely. He hugged me back just as tight. "That was pretty cool Armony."

"Thanks." I pulled back and looked him and the girl over, they looked alright. "Okay you three stay behind me got it." I know Tyson was strong enough to protect himself but, he was still a little brother, and I was a big sister…it's what I do. They nodded. As I moved them back to relative safety the wind shifted so we were know downwind from the Minotaur. I heard him before I could think of what to do. Then I felt the heavy vibrations in my feet. I turned to capture the gaze of those monstrous eyes that will be burned into my mind for the rest of my life. He roared and it felt as though my eardrums would pop. The Minotaur swiped his hand and Tyson flew across the ground landing in a crumpled heap.

"Tyson!" I yelled, but even my scream was short lived as a large meaty hand grabbed me and pulled me up to his bovine face. He looked at me as he began to squeeze. The breath left me I tried to scream but nothing would come out. Tears fell down my face as I felt ribs begin to crack. In a way I was kind of happy I couldn't breathe; I could feel his warm disgusting breath and with how close we were to one another if I could breathe I would be breathing in _that._ Eew!

"Let go of my sister!" I heard Max yell. I looked down to see him kicking the monster that paid him no mind. I wanted to scream with every fiber of my being for Max to run away and get somewhere safe. I saw a glint of bronze disappear into brown flesh. The Minotaur bellowed in pain and I fell to the ground. My lungs filled with the air I had been deprived of. Then I saw the most horrible thing. The Minotaur wacked Max like he was a fly. Max flew back and hit a tree. I screamed. I had no idea I could ever be that loud or make a sound so shrill and angry, but that noise came from me. All I could see was my brothers crumpled body. The pain in my body ceased to exist; I stood up and faced the thing I wished to kill. The Minotaur stumbled back as someone grabbed onto its horns twisting its head making it fall to the ground. Percy climbed over it his sword ready to kill it.

"Don't." I didn't speak loud but I know he heard me. His face took in mine and he froze. The Minotaur took advantage and tossed Percy off of him. It stood up and was about to grab Percy when I screamed again getting its attention. "You will die here!" I pulled string back on my bow. "On your knees!" I commanded. I released two arrows, they left trails of glittering light as they hit their targets. An arrow shot into each leg of the Minotaur forcing him into my command. Everything in my body was hyper aware, I knew after this I would always be able to remember it. I shot a third arrow into the Minotaur's throat. A hole was burned into him. "Die." I felt cold just like my words. The Minotaur's body began to disintegrate into dust disappearing along with it. "Max!" I ran to my little brother watching over his broken form. I pulled him into his arm. I could hear his faint breaths, and feel his weakening pulse.

"_Father, Apollo, Lord of the Son_

_Let me heal and undo what is done._

_Fix bruise and break_

_And pain please take_

_Heal my brother, one beloved_

_Joined by mother, same in blood"_

I sang. I wasn't sure what else to do, so I sang.

**Connor POV**

After I left Armony, Travis and I teamed up to try and get some water to Percy. Like Annabeth and Malcolm had said our weapons couldn't hurt the wolves and magic or the natural enemy of fire (aka. Water) was our only hope. Travis and I took pale of water to Percy but with his attention on trying not to get burned we were forced to throw buckets of water at the wolves. But it actually worked better when we threw water _on_ Percy. He got his strength back then made his own personal storm complete with lightning and rain and started to put out the fire wolves. They went out like…well like a flame being dowsed with water.

"Thanks!" Percy nodded to us.

"Don't mention it." I said.

"But if you want to show us your gratitude with gifts we won't complain." Travis finished our common thought. Percy was still all business.

"Put out the other wolves. I'll take care of the Minotaur." Percy twirled Riptide and ran toward the Minotaur.

"Aye, aye captain." Travis and I yelled after him. We ran to put get more water. On our way we heard a scream. The loudest most horrible thing I had ever heard, like someone was crying and screaming ion anger at the same time. It was so shrill I'm sure it could break glass. But I knew that voice it was Armony.

I looked back to see Percy over the head of the Minotaur about to sever it but he stopped and I knew why when I looked at Armony. Her face was absent of any of the compassion and joy she usually had, all it showed was a cold anger. She looked like an avenging goddess full of divine fury, it was creepy. That look could make a volcano freeze over. The Minotaur threw Percy off of him and it faced Armony; it looked incredibly angry but between the two looks of anger I would choose the Minotaur's.

"You will die here!" She yelled at the Minotaur. Her voice was still her own but there was more to it. Like the anger was amplifying another person's voice along with hers. "On your knees!" She commanded. I looked and noticed that the entire battle had stopped even the fire wolves were just watching. Armony pulled back her bow and shot arrows of light at the Minotaur forcing him into submission. Where did she get those? The beauty of the shining arrows hid their deadly nature. The Minotaur braced himself on his hands looking at Armony. "Die." Was her final command. The Minotaur was about to let out a roar when a beam of light shot through the back of his neck silencing him. Then he disappeared into dust. "Max!" Armony screamed. She ran to our little brother. Which explained the whole Avenging goddess thing. Then she began to sing. Every camper walked to them crying. There was no way not to. Even the fire wolves became quiet. Armony sang as tears fell down her face and to everyone's relief. Max's eyes fluttered open.

"Armony?" His voice was labored and weak.

"Max." Armony's smile was as bright as the son. Armony turned to the crowd. "I need nectar." Someone produced a canister and handed it to her. She lifted the open lid to Max's lips and he began to drink. Max immediately began to look better. When he was done drinking Armony wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Armony," Max's muffled voice came out barely audible. "Armony I can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry." She loosened the hug and wiped her eyes. Then Chiron came along and broke up the crowd and sent the injured to the infirmary. The rest of us began picking up weapons and returned to our cabins.

"Ah!" Came another girl's scream. "Our Cabin!" Katie yelled. Oh, yeah I forgot about that. "Water we need water." The flames were peaking over the Demeter cabin roof. But Percy came to the rescue putting out the flames. However the Demeter cabin mates were left angry. "Those stupid fire wolves the burned up our cabin!" Katie yelled. Okay, let's go with that.

**That was longer than I expected. Next chapter…more filler! Next chapter will be a big chapter of various little chapters during a quest. You'll get it when you see it. If you don't want to then you don't actually even have to read the next one, but I'd appreciate it if you would.**

**BTW my * Originally that was not going to be the line but I was listening to Off the Chain by Selena Gomez when I wrote that so…I couldn't help it.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Before I start, has anyone noticed that fans of Percy Jackson fanfics are also fans of NCIS fanfics?**

**Also I want to apologize for any discrepancies that might not match up with The Heroes of Olympus…I haven't read it yet, that and I came up with this before The Lost Hero even came out sooo sorry about that. Which is funny since I was on a trip during the summer and I got the entire book for free on my nook, before it actually went on sale…go figure.**

**Happy belated Christmas! Here's your Belated Christmas Present!**

**Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_Ch. 13.1 Aren't they a bit YOUNG?_

I was running to the Big House as fast as my legs would take me. Every curse word in my arsenal was being let loose with gusto. Over and over I ran what went through my head.

**Flashback**

"Lois, please Spanish is waaay better than French." We had been arguing like this since breakfast. Everyone knows that Spanish is way cooler.

"Nuh uh. French is the language of love, and nothing beats love." Lois retorted getting that dreamy look in her eyes which changed color…again.

"Yeah, right. More like the language of surrender."

"What is wrong with surrendering one's self to '_amour'._" Really she was going to completely ignore the fact that the French surrender all the time.

"Again French is the language of wimps." Her jaw dropped.

"It is not!" Her eyes changed color again this time they were reddish-brown. Over her shoulder I spotted Nico. He might be able to settle this for us.

"Hey Nico!" I yelled. He looked up surprised, and then he visibly gulped when he saw Lois. When Lois turned around to see Nico she immediately began to flip her hair and bat her eye-lashes, Nico's infatuation was not one-sided; he is just a chicken.

"Hey Armony, L-Lois." Awe that was kind of cute. Back to business. "Nico we have been arguing and we need your help to settle this."

"Alright." Nico was watching Lois as she inched closer and put her hand on his arm.

"Which language is better Spanish or French?" Lois gave him a flirtatious smile. Oh, that is cheating.

"Wel-l b-both are pretty goo-ood languages." Nico stuttered. I was surprised he was able to talk with Lois moving her hand up and down his arm, in a very sensual manner. "I mean they're both related. Descendents of Latin…" Nico was losing coherency fast.

"Wouldn't you agree that French is the language of _love_?" If I didn't know that Nico wasn't willing I would have guessed she was molesting him.

"Y-yeah." Okay, I shouldn't have asked Nico. But I wasn't going down.

"Fine, French is the language of love, but Spanish is the language of passion."

"Alright, I can live with that." Lois and I came to an agreement. Then Lois's brows knitted together. "What is Latin then?"

"Who cares, it's dead." I answered. Then she pursed her lips biting on the corner, thinking of another question.

"Then what is the language of mystery?" That was a pretty good question I thought about it for a while.

"Navajo." She nodded. Then Nico snapped out of his stupor.

"Oh Armony I forgot to tell you that Max was just given a quest."

**End Flashback**

Yes, my eight year old ADHD, dyslexic little brother was about to be given some kind of a quest that could get him killed. I finally made it to the Big House I ran inside a little too fast because the next thing I know I'm tripping over my feet and rolling into the wall.

"Ouch. That really hurt!" I rubbed my head where I hit the wall. I must've hit it really hard because everything looked blurry.

"Armony are you alright?" I looked up at a blurry figure (which looked like a cloud in front of more clouds) but I recognized the voice.

"Hey Connor, don't worry I'm fine I just can't see too well at the moment." Okay my head was beginning to throb. I stood up a nearly fell backward but Connor caught me by the arm. "Whoa, thanks." 

"Maybe you should sit down." Connor led me over to what felt like a couch. I sat down. Then I heard Max yelling.

"This is going to be so cool!" Max was yelling to…someone, again I couldn't see. Then I guess he saw me. "Armony!"

"Oh…Max…where are you?"

"I'm in front of you, how come you're not looking at me?" His voice was much closer now. I thought of 'why' I wasn't looking at him and began to blush. Then I heard him running away and then come back. "Here." I assume he shoved something toward me, but when I felt it hit my lips I was able to grab onto the cup and began to drink. Mmmm, red velvet cake. I blinked a few time and my vision cleared and I could see everything normal again. "Better?"

"Much." I hugged him then remembered what I had come here to do. "Max have you been given a quest?" I asked but the moment I said "quest" I knew my answer from Max's face. His biggest grin was plastered on his face. "Max…" I didn't want to be a buzz kill but this was dangerous on epic proportions.

"Max, can you please come back here." Chiron yelled.

"Oh, yeah." Max smiled sheepishly and ran back into the other room. I followed Max into the other room. If anybody could put a stop to this Chiron could.

"Armony it is good to see you. Max here has just been given a quest and I was hoping we could receive your blessing on this." Well there goes my plan.

"Chiron he's eight, and these quests are dangerous I'm not sure if I can support him going on one." I voiced my concern.

"But Armony!" Max tried to protest but Chiron cut him off.

"I understand your apprehension Armony. However, he will not be alone. This quest calls for the children of Hermes, Poseidon and Athena."

"Uh, Chiron that's not really helping the case." It was obvious who Max was going to choose. I like Tyson and all but he's still only nine.

"Don't worry Armony we have a way to keep the balance without endangering the kids. That's when I noticed everyone else in the room as well. Percy was standing next to Tyson and Annabeth next to her sister (more like her mini-me), Marybeth. Connor stood over Max. The only one out of place was me…and Ling Cho from the Hecate cabin. Ling is a pretty girl of Asian descent. I wondered what she was doing there. Then she spoke.

"See by having the older siblings of each camper go with them we keep the balance of three along with having more experienced campers along with them." Ling explained. Unlike Lilith, Ling was actually nice.

"Oh." Yeah, that was all I said. "So Connor is going to be going with Max?"

"Yup." Connor answered. I walked closer to Connor and grabbed him by the shirt collar to make sure he looked me in the eye. I could feel my face blush from our faces being so close, I shrugged it off.

"If anything bad happens to Max at all on this trip I will break you." I said with less malice then I meant. But taking care of my little brother is something that I do; not being there with him is going to be on my nerves until he returns.

"But I want Armony to come with us." Max piped up. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"I'm sorry Max but that's not possible." Chiron began.

"No! I want Armony to come." Max cut him off and began to pout. "She killed that Minotaur and she can heal people, our survival rate will be over nine thousand!" Uh…I would love to go with him but what he said was really out there…well it was all correct until that nine thousand part.

"Max, that made no sense." But it was cute.

"Yes it did." Max retorted. He looked up moving his eyes side to side, meaning he was remembering something. "Yeah it made total sense."

"Actually it might be possible." Ling announced. Another surprised look from the audience.

"Ling, I don't think so; three is a sacred number that is why quests are always in groups of three. Were stretching it by having six go even if we are an extension of the original three." Annabeth rebuttled Ling's argument using the word 'three' three times.

"I may not be as experienced as Lilith in multi-cultural magic but the number seven is even more sacred then the number three. So sending seven campers might not be so bad." Okay, she lost me.

"Uhm…what?" Percy asked instead of me.

"In most cultures in the world the number three and four are sacred so the conjunction of both is an even more sacred symbol." I looked at Percy who I'm pretty sure his look of cluelessness mirrored mine.

"So the number seven is very special and 'divine'." Connor clarified with air quotes.

"Pretty much." Ling agreed with the summation. "It's too bad Lilith went to visit her dad. She could explain this much better. She has been trained by some of the strongest witches of all cultures; Cereza, Neferet, Jeane D'Arc, Abigail Williams, Circe, Medea, Merlin, The Halliwell sisters, Morgan La Fey, Elphaba, Dumbledore, Snape and Professor McGonagall."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_Ch. 13.2 Raising Money_

So basically Max's quest is for him to deliver an egg (about the size of an Ostrich egg) to the city of divine faith and hatch the egg within the temple of the sun. Anyway since the city of divine faith or how Annabeth figured 'holy faith' which in Spanish translates to 'Santa Fe' we found our destination. Although none of us understood what the 'temple of the sun' is. Since we were heading to New Mexico we figured resting at our house would probably be a good move (free room and board). Argus, whom I had originally thought had died and become the peacock, drove us in the camp van to the city. Since we were all low on funds and Zeus doesn't like Percy enough to let him fly I found myself on the street playing my violin for change. So far we had enough for three train tickets to Tennessee.

"You know if you sing we could make more money." Percy stopped my playing to offer again his advice.

"Percy, I am not going to sing. It's one thing at the camp sing-a-longs but it another to do it on the street for random people who will probably boo me." I set my violin down and began to count the rest of the change. Luckily Tyson was selling some trinkets he made at pretty high prices.

"Seriously Armony it wouldn't be that hard." I was tempted to rat him out to Annabeth.

"So how much do we have so far?" Annabeth came around from the corner.

"About seventy-four dollars." Annabeth collected the change and placed it in a knapsack.

"Hey, where did Connor and Max head off to?" I looked around but they were nowhere in sight. Then I felt a tug on my shirt I looked down to see Marybeth's storm cloud grey eyes looking up at me. I bent down to listen to her.

"Connor said that there were some fat cats that were loaded with dough, so he was going to see what he could do and Max wanted to help." Oh not good. After a few more minutes of waiting, Connor and Max walked up the street to where we were standing both smiling mischievously.

"So how much did you guys make?" Connor asked. After I answered Max grinned happily.

"We got three hundred dollars."

"How?"

"Uh…Look Tyson." Max pointed to Tyson. His big hulking form was moving up the sidewalk several people moved to get out of his way.

"Here…" Tyson said sadly as he gave his money to Annabeth.

"Five hundred dollars!" Everyone's jaw dropped. Tyson is awesome…but sad.

"It's okay big guy. I know you didn't want to sell your things but we are really happy you did that." Percy started to thank his little brother making him smile. Cute.

"Well let's go buy those tickets."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_Ch.13.3 Stow away_

**Connor POV**

The train ride wasn't too bad. We basically just sat in the chairs for hours. Course I had some fun 'receiving samples' from the food carts. Okay, I stole them. This whole quest seemed weird. Although I thought it might be kind of cool to see Armony and Max's house. Besides that it was pretty boring. I was sharing some of the food from the cart when 'it' happened.

"No Tyson you put your fingers like this." Armony held up her chopsticks and demonstrated for Tyson. He tried again but the sticks slipped past each other when he tried to pick up some sushi. After a bit more practice Tyson was finally able to lift a little wheel into his mouth and chewed. He smiled happily looking like a big snaggle toothed kid. Then his smile disappeared as he began to taste it.

"What is this it tastes funny."

"It's sushi." Annabeth answered. "Fish." Tyson eye(s) went wide. He got up and ran to the bathroom crying.

"Oh my god." Realization appeared on Armony's face. "Tyson is a son of Poseidon. He just ate his dad's subjects." We all looked at Percy. He looked a little green around the gills. Ha. Get it?

"I didn't know that it was fish." Percy said looking grim. We stopped eating the sushi. After the fiasco Annabeth paid special attention to Percy's recovery and Tyson fell asleep with Max and Marybeth on either side of him. Armony sat next to me.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" No, I do not mind at all, even though you already sat down.

"Sure." She had braided her hair into a thick braid and rested it over her shoulder. She smiled at me.

"You know I don't think I ever thanked you." Armony's smile was small and sweet.

"For what?" Most of the things I've done she got mad at.

"For making me sing." The last time she brought this up it had ended up with me in pain. "I'm not happy you got me drunk but you gave me confidence. I mean I'm still not comfortable to singing in front of strangers but thanks." We looked into each other's eyes and she began to blush again. I started to count her freckles; it was pretty easy with the blush.

"Did you know you have exactly sixteen freckles?" Her blush deepened and she looked away. After that we fell asleep.

Vanilla and some kind of flower, that is what I could smell at the moment it was a really nice smell, sweet too, but there was something underlying that was fresh and clean. I opened my eyes. Armony had fallen asleep on my shoulder. I could get used to this.

"S'cuse me youngins." The conductor from the train was approaching us. He was an old guy he had silver grey hairs sticking out from underneath his cap. Even his mustache was silver grey. "But this is the last stop unless you plan on headin' back the way you came."

"Oh thanks." I muttered my appreciation and got the rest of the group up from their sleep. "Come on we need to get on the next train." They nodded and we walked onto the platform. However I went to reach for our money to realize that it was no longer in my pocket. Great just great. "Um guys." They looked up at me expectantly. "The money is gone."

"What!" They all yelled at once. I wonder if they planned that.

"I don't have it."

"Maybe it's still on the train." Marybeth chimed in. That was a good idea, until the whistle for the train blew and it started to depart. I ran after the train, but it turns out trains are faster than me.

"Well shit." Armony cussed. "Now what do we do?" She looked at Annabeth.

"I have no idea." Annabeth said cooly.

"Um why don't we just get on another train?" Marybeth piped up again.

"Yeah, we can just sneak on." Max was a little too excited but I had to respect the prospect. I thought about for a few seconds. We actually could sneak on the train.

"It might be the only thing we can do." Percy said with finality, and then looked at me.

"Oh, yeah." I could feel myself smile my most mischievous smile yet.

**Armony POV**

I can't believe I am sneaking onto a train! And we are all following the guy who lost our money to begin with. Each of us is as quiet as possible sneaking around to the back of the train…well most of us anyway, Connor finds is more conducive to the mission to be humming the Mission Impossible Theme. However the three younger kids find this completely awesome…okay…it kind of is. This is actually kind of fun. Connor stopped humming after we approach the back of the train.

"Okay now we need to be extremely quiet. After you get inside try to find a place to hide." Connor whispers his orders quickly and we all follow. Once were inside it become way too obvious why it is called a boxcar, for two reasons one it is shaped like a box, two it is filled with boxes/crates. Percy and Annabeth huddle together in a corner. While Max and Marybeth lay on the floor out of site. Poor huge Tyson had to pile some of the boxes in front of him to create a hiding spot. Connor and I hid in the corner opposite of Percy and Annabeth. It was actually kind of cozy, despite the fact any minute someone could walk in an throws us off of the train…OH MY GODS, what if they did it while it was moving? I was starting to panic the last time I ever did anything remotely crazy was when I got my tattoo, score one for peer pressure. I tried to breathe in slowly and deeply through my nose to calm me down; it worked because I got distracted by a smell, a nice smell. It was slightly spicy and calming and not exactly fresh but something that made me think of outside and pine trees. I closed my eyes to take in more of the scent. Unconsciously I was drawing into the aroma. Then I came in contact with something hard and warm. I opened my eyes to see Connor looking down at me. The smell was Connor…I was sniffing Connor!

"Armony." Connor was smirking. I pushed him away from me, my face was incredibly hot.

"S-sorry must've…been…cologne or…something." I oh so coherently stated. Connor must not have understood me because he looked confused, not like I could blame him.

"I'm not wearing cologne."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_Ch.13.4 The Lady Vipers and El Chupacabra_

After the rather awkward stow away train ride from Tennessee, we arrived in El Paso, Texas. I've been to El Paso tons of times (one of those times having to do with my tattoo). Because of this I knew very well two things; one, it is as hot as hell during the summer and two; it can be pretty dangerous at night especially by the train tracks…where we are, right now, at night. To say the least I'm on edge.

"What was that?" I whisper in panic, after I hear something that sounds suspiciously like chains.

"I don't hear anything." Percy shot down my paranoia.

"We need to get off the streets, it's dangerous." I was adamant. I tried to calm down and get them to understand.

"What exactly are you afraid of?" Connor asked. Gods please let them listen.

"Gangs, junkies, gangs."

"You said 'gangs' twice." Marybeth pointed out. Normally I find her cute, but at this moment I just find her annoying.

"I get it." Oh thank you, Annabeth for seeing the logic in my panic. "Gangs normally have knives and guns and all we have are celestial bronze weapons which won't do a thing to humans." I hadn't even thought about that! With Annabeth behind me we sped up our efforts to find a place to stay.

"_Hey where do you guys think you're going_?" A very menacing and female voice spoke up from an alley along with the sound of clinking chains. Cool I was right…wait…okay this isn't cool. Sometimes it really sucks being right. We turned to see a Mexican girl in a leather jacket, jeans and combat boots with a heavy looking chain.

"What did she say?" Tyson asked. Oh yeah, she was speaking Spanish.

"No _comprendo_?" Connor answered the girl. Well two of us understood her. Then she said some very bad things in Spanish and a few other girls dressed like her started to gather around us.

"_We are just looking for a place to stay for the night_." I answered in Spanish.

"Well that too bad _chica_, this is our turf and outsiders ain't welcome_._" Another girl answered in english. She had her hair wrapped in an orange bandana and was brandishing a baseball bat. "Especially _gringos_." Well that was just racist. Percy stepped up.

"Will just leave your turf and be on our way." Percy tried to diffuse the situation. Another girl who had a gun walked closer to Percy. She sashayed her hips in her low-ride jeans.

"You know you're kind of cute." She took in our reactions to her teasing and centered in on Annabeth. "What's wrong _gringa_ is he your man?" Annabeth was clenching her teeth ready to say something.

"Look we have little kids with us; we really just need to go find a hotel." The girls seemed mostly unfazed. Except for one. The girl walked up in front of the others and looked at Marybeth then at Max. She bent down to get a better look at Max and on the back of her leather jacket I could read "Lady Vipers" in ghetto lettering. She looked kind of familiar. Then her eyes grew wide.

"Max?" The girl questioned. Max looked up at her. "Max that is you!" Then she turned to me. "Armony!" She swept me up into a big squeezing hug. "It's me! Megan!" I looked at her and it was Megan, I hadn't seen her in years.

"Oh my gods Megan, how have you been?" I returned her hug just as hard.

"I'm great. How about you, still grounded after your mom saw your tattoo?" She turned around and pulled up my shirt to look at my lower back. "You look so different without your braces." I slapped her hand after I noticed Connor, Percy and Tyson looking at it.

"I'm good too. My mom lightened my sentence after the 'bad' influence moved away."

"Jessica moved?"

"Yeah, her parents finally got fed up and sent her to boot camp." Megan laughed.

"You have to come to my house so we can catch up." Then she looked around at the other girls. "This is Armony. We go way back, she's cool." The other girls shrugged and help the rest of us with our stuff and gave us a ride to Megan's house. Megan and I caught up on the ride there. As it turns out after Megan and her moms moved to El Paso, Megan received a lot of crap for having two moms so she joined a gang for protection. A few months ago she took over leadership and the Lady Vipers have been cleaner, less violent, and expanded their territory under her management.

"So…how do you two know each other?" Annabeth asked. Everyone looked a little freaked. I guess I would have been too.

"We used to go to school together. We were both in the school band." I answered. Megan and I smiled at each other. We were best friends.

"Yeah, Armony played the violin I played the flute." Megan pulled her hands up taking the flute playing pose, twiddling her fingers.

"So did I hear something about that tattoo?" Connor oh so innocently asked. I didn't want to get into the story but Megan didn't mind.

"A contest brought us to El Paso," Megan gestured to the city around us. "It got really boring in our hotel room one night so our friend Jessica came up with the idea to sneak out. Armony here didn't want to go but we didn't give her a choice." My face was turning red already. "Once we were out it was still boring so we decided to get tattoos. We found this shady parlor that didn't card us and se each of us got a tattoo. Which explains why I have a tattoo of four stars on my back and why Armony has a 'tramp stamp' of a heart made from a bass clef and an upside down treble clef." Megan smiled at the memory. I grimaced at the memory of the pain the next day. After some more reminiscing and blushes, we arrived at Megan's house. It was a pretty simple house with four bedrooms, so her moms invited us to stay the night.

"Does your mother know you children our out by yourselves?" Mrs. Ortega, Megan's mom, asked. This Mrs. Ortega looks just like Megan, but is much nicer than her other mother.

"She knows were in El Paso." I try to diffuse Mrs. Ortega's resolve to call my mother (or child services). She just narrows her eyes.

"Armony." Oh gods she's using the mom voice.

"Hey, mom have you seen Jargon?" Luckily Megan's question saves us from the interrogation that was sure to happen. There's a low happy bark coming from the other room. "Nevermind." Jargon, Megan's German Shepherd, runs and pounces on her licking her face. "Jargon! Off boy!" He listens but then pounces on Marybeth who screams bloody murder. After some more catching up, Mrs. and Mrs. Ortega split us into groups allowing the boys to have the guest and adjoining room while we girls take Megan's room. After a while I notice Megan is on edge constantly looking out the window.

"Megan what's wrong?" I ask her concern obvious.

"Oh, it's nothing." Megan smiles nervously.

"Megan you know you can tell me anything." It may have been years since we last saw each other but at one point we were like sisters. She sighs.

"When I became leader of the Lady Vipers, I made a new rule that every girl should own a dog for companionship and protection." Megan was a huge dog lover she used to study police dog trainers to learn tips. So her making that rule didn't really surprise me. "It was a ploy to get the girls to act more serious and get there acts together, you have no idea what the unconditional love of their dogs has done for them. However something has been killing the dogs. I want to say it's a rival gang but the dogs haven't been mutilated like a rival gang would do. But they are dry when we find them, no blood, or organs for that matter." It was obvious how badly this affected Megan. She could and would always snap a bone without even batting an eyelash when she needed to. But if any animal was ever mistreated she would fall apart.

"Is that why you're so on edge? Are you afraid whatever it is is coming after Jargon?" I asked. Megan nodded slowly. I couldn't let this happen there had to be something I could do. So after Megan finally fell asleep I had little chat with Annabeth.

So now we were outside, hiding in the bushes waiting for whatever it may be that has been eating dogs. It was quiet too quiet. Okay not really. I just always wanted to say that. After an hour or two of waiting Jargon suddenly pricked his ears up, a deep growl began to resonate from his chest. His lips pulled back showing off his very dangerous looking teeth. Annabeth nudged me. I had my bow ready with some arrows I had with me from camp. A disgusting creature walked out of the shadows its grey-ish green skin looking sickly in the street lights. It had spines growing out of its back, and two very large red eyes. It teeth were elongated like vampire fangs. Its claws were the color of rust, from dried blood, the membrane on its arms formed what looked like might have been wings. It hunched and walked like some kind of prehistoric animal but everything about it screamed unnatural.

"What is that thing?" Annabeth whispered, the look on her face was a cross between horrified and disgusted and curiosity. I had never seen one before but I had heard enough stories to know exactly what that thing was.

"El Chupacabra." Jargon stared down the chupa. Its body tensed readying itself for the meal it was about to receive. I pulled back an arrow waiting for a better shot. The chupacabra lunged forward. The tangle of limbs of Jargon and the Chupa was all I could see, I couldn't get a clear shot. A flash of golden bronze flew through the air and embedded itself in the chupacabra's back. I followed the trail of the knife and saw Max, Percy, Tyson and Connor standing at the back door.

"What the hell is that thing?" Connor shouted to no one in particular.

"You are looking at El Chupacabra." I answered his question standing up from the bushes. The boys jumped back like they had just seen a ghost jump out in front of them.

"El chupa-what-what?" Percy asked. Okay how has he not heard of El Chupacabra?

"El Chupacabra, the goat sucker. It's name comes from the Spanish words '_chupar'_ meaning to suck and '_cabra_', goat." Max answered with a victorious smile on his face.

"Ummm." Tyson raised his hand like a school kid.

"Yes, Tyson." I picked on him feeling very teacher like.

"What do we do with it?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Ch.13.5 Home Sweet Home_

Never, will I ever hitch-hike again. For the last two hours we have been riding in the back of a truck along with panicking chickens (they don't like Tyson). We had finally arrived in Cloudcroft only to have to walk the rest of the way to our house. Of course I could have called a friend but nobody would be willing to give us a ride with how we smell. Of course I could have also called my mom…except that using cell phones for a demigod is like telling monsters that you are an all you can attack buffet. Finally as we climb the last hill I can see our house.

"Armony?" Connor says my name with a question attached.

"Yeah." I answer.

"Where is your house?" Oh stupid me I forgot to point it out. I point and his jaw drops as does everyone else's. Our house is a wooden cabin two story four bedroom house with a porch that overlooks the mountains and has large windows that overlook the balcony/porch from our living room.

"That is your house?" Percy questions in disbelief.

"Yeah." I answer back easily.

"That's like a summer get away house for rich people." Marybeth quickly surmises our house.

"To tell the truth that's because it was." I get a few more disbelieving looks and an 'explain' look from Annabeth. "It was originally going to be a small getaway resort for this old man. However he went crazy like something out of '_The Shining' _anyway in his madness he sold it for extremely cheap to the first person who asked; my mom."

"Wait so let me get this straight your mother basically took advantage of an old man's mental incapability."

"Pretty much."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_Ch.13.6 Reunion_

**Percy POV**

Armony's car was really nice. I don't usually have a thing for mustangs but a V8 engine equipped with Nos and that little port thing for an iPod and convertible. It was really nice to say the least! Of course I had to ask if I could drive it however Armony, Max and there mom were having a touching reunion moment. With Ms. Soladad saying a lot of things in rapid fire Spanish. I should really pay more attention in that class.

"I can't believe that you were given a quest _mi hijo_." Ms. Soladad squeezed Max tightly again.

"It's so cool mom we got to sneak on a train and we killed a chupacabra!" Max was yelling at his mom grinning in obvious triumph.

"Wait did you say you snuck on a train?" Ms. Soladad was obviously surprised.

"Yeah, my new big brother showed us how to sneak on." Max pointed to Connor who smiled sheepishly expecting a lecture.

"You two really are your father's sons." That was surprising. "I am going to make all of you a big dinner. Armony can you divide everyone into the rooms while I start dinner. I'm thinking enchiladas, Tres Leches cake, and chips and salsa!" Ms. Soladad ran off into the kitchen we could hear her rustling through cabinets and pots and pans. Armony smiled after her mother, and again I couldn't believe how much they looked alike but now that I saw next to each other there were parts of Armony that were definitely Apollo, the eyes, the nose, the tan.

"Okay well let's divide you guys up." Armony said looking back at us. "Tyson you can stay in Max's room with him." Max and Tyson high-fived each other and ran up the stairs. "Annabeth, Marybeth you two can stay in my room, and Percy, Connor you guys can stay in the guest room." Armony lead up the stairs past lots of framed pictures on the wall. There were mostly of Max and Armony playing, or at a museum or playing at the beach. One of them was a younger Armony probably only a few years ago, she had braces in her mouth and was smiling with her violin under her chin. But the last one at the top made Connor stop, he stared at it; he looked sad, or hurt. It was of his dad and Max. Hermes was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and Max was a few feet away from him mimicking the pose. Both were smiling the same smile, it was obvious they were father and son. Armony took notice of Connor's reaction to the picture.

"Every year for Max's birthday he comes to visit for a few hours." Armony clarified the occasion of the picture. "I made him promise to come visit Max." Armony reached up and grabbed the frame and removed the picture. She folded the picture in half so only Hermes was shown. She held it out to Connor. "We have digital copies of all of our pictures. You can have this one." Armony smiled at Connor it was small but all the comfort in the world was expressed in it."

"Thanks." Connor took the pricture from her, their finger tips just barely touched and Armony's face flushed into a red so fast I don't think it could be humanly possible. Armony hurried up the stairs to the hallway that led to the rooms.

"A-anyway my room is the one on the right." She pointed and Annabeth and Marybeth walked in. By the sounds of their gasps I'm guessing Armony's room was pretty cool. Armony lead Connor and me to the end of the hallway and gestured to the last door on the left. "This is the guest room." Armony opened the door to reveal their guest room. Two double sized beds were placed on either side of a large floor to ceiling window that gave a view to the front of the house. The room was painted in a light blue and the beds were covered in matching navy blue and white striped comforters and sheets with fluffy white pillows on each. It was all pretty nice until I heard.

_ "That's Percy Jackson son of the sea god!"_ I turned around to come face to face with an eighty gallon fish tank filled with lots of fish looking right at me. Ugh. The fish were now communicating with each other, whispering. _"I thought he was taller.", "I think he's cute.", "You think he will feed us?", Will he tell Armony that Odell died yesterday?", "Does he know that his dad is here?"_ etc…wait what was that last one?

"Armony?" I look at Armony who ends the fish speaking by feeding the fish some sticks. She smiles at them as they eat ravenously.

"You know sometimes I wish we didn't get cichlids they grow so fast but luckily the man we buy the fish from will take them back if they get too big so…" Armony took in the expression on my face and stopped her little explanation. "What's wrong?"

"Well…" I try to explain but I'm cut off by double screams and hysterical laughter. We run out of the room to find Max playing with a fake spider and Annabeth and Marybeth looking at him murderously.

"That was way too easy!" Max says between laughs.

"Max!" Miss Soladad yells from downstairs. Max stops laughing abruptly and goes pale. "Get down here now!"

"Yes mam…" Max runs down the stairs quickly. His muted voice travels upward. "Hi mom…" Then rapid fire angry Spanish is echoing in the hall. I have no idea what she is saying but Amony goes pale as well.

After the yelling is over and some rather painful screams accompanied with the sound of slaps. Max climbs upstairs and apologizes to Annabeth and Marybeth. "Dinner's ready!" Miss Soladad yells up to us. All the terrifying anger in her voice is gone and replaced with chipper friendliness. I walk with the other down the stairs but then I smell the food and it more like I'm racing the others. The cheesy smell from the enchiladas wafts pleasantly out of the kitchen but the underlying sweetness from that "something" cake is really got my mouth watering. I look at Tyson; he is staring hard at the kitchen door like he will magically make the food appear. "Armony, Max could you two please set the table." The table is set quickly and we all sit down at the table waiting for the food. Miss. Soladad came out with the enchiladas and sets them on a serving tray and begins to divide the food onto everyone's plates. I can't believe the way my stomach is growling after seeing the food. I think back to grover and how excited he would be to have these enchiladas and how fast he would run to get some. I take a bite and it's like I'm eating ambrosia. It tastes awesome on so many proportions. We all start digging in and the looks of gratification shows I'm not the only one enjoying the food. Then the doorbell rings. Miss Soladad looks up surprised and mumbles and apology to go answer the door. Then the next thing we here it her greeting someone enthusiasticly, we all give Armony questioning looks. So she gets up from her chair and spies on her mom and the visitor.

"It's Nicholas Neptune, mom's boyfriend." Armony says matter-o-factly. "He owns the fish shop where we buy our fish." She doesn't sound like she likes him too much but Max nods enthusiastically.

"He has this big tank that has sharks in it!" I guess normal kids would find that cool. But I've been to my dad's under water palace. A shark tank just isn't that cool anymore. "Hey Nick!" Max yells into the hallway. "Come eat dinner with us!" A familiar laugh come from the hallway and footsteps lead Nicholas Neptune into the dining room.

"Dad?"

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Ch.13.7 Beds and Boyfriends_

**Armony POV**

As it turns out mom's boyfriend Nicholas Neptune is actually Percy's dad, Poseidon. Are the Fates on Crack? Things got awkward fast but Percy and his dad took it in stride so… I'm not really sure where that leaves anything. But one thing I am very sure of; after eating good food till one may explode one must sleep.

"So…your mom is dating Poseidon." Annabeth said, though I'm pretty sure a question was attached to that. Annabeth and I were alone in my room. Max, Marybeth, Tyson, and Nick-Neptune-**Poseidon**, were watching _Finding Nemo_, yeah… "Please don't get mad at me Armony but does your mom only date gods?" For some reason I wasn't as mad at Annabeth as I normally would have been if she had asked that (must have been the second slice of Tres Leches cake I ate).

"My mom has this weird theory when it comes to dating." This was one of the few things she ever told me that ever concerned my dad. "My mom says that she knows when she has met a love of hers because she will blush when she looks at them."

"What?" Annabeth looked at me like I grew a third head.

"I know it sounds weird but she says that she first experienced it with my dad." I thought back to the first time my mom had explained this to me. It was during "the talk" but she got me to listen by satisfying my curiosity about my dad. "She said that neither of them were thinking of anything that would warrant a blush so she knew that the love between them was innocent and pure and could grow into something more; me." I always found that part really romantic.

"That is really mushy but sweet. Aphrodite must be really active in your mom's life." We both laughed at that. "So have you ever…you know…blushed?" Annabeth asked me. The smile on her face was a strange one that I couldn't place.

"No." She looked at me disbelievingly. I don't think I ever had. I am a little dense but not that much. "What I haven't." Or at least I haven't noticed.

"Yeah right." Okay I was going to give her proof.

"Okay fine." I stood up and walked over to my closet and began pulling out boxes, marked with different boy's names. "These are my boyfriend boxes. Each one is one or several of my X's."

"Armony there is like thirty names on these boxes."

"Yup."

"Did you really date all these guys?"

"Yup."

"You are such a slut." Annabeth was teasing but still.

"Am not!" I yelled.

"Than how could you date all these guys?" She gestured to the boxes around me.

"Trial and error." I answered. "It's not that I fell completely in love with them or anything it's just…I don't know what I want so when they asked me out I said 'yes'. And I still have no idea what I want." Dating is sometimes very stressful.

"Well what about that one guy that cheated on you?"

"Ugh. Tim." They say that time heals all wounds but time was still taking a long time on Tim. I sat on my bed as I felt my eyes begin to water. Normally I focus my hurt into anger but with Tim sadness was all I could muster. "He used to be one of my best friends but I wouldn't you know…sleep with him. So he turned to my best friend, Kayla. I learned too things from that; how shitty it feels to be cheated on, and never date your friends."

"I'm sorry that must have really sucked." Annabeth sat on the bed next to me. She rubbed my back. It felt good to talk to someone.

"Yeah. How about you and Percy though?" Annabeth blushed thinking of Percy. Guess I got my answer.

"We're good. It's just sometimes. You know he's so dense it took him forever to figure out how I felt about him. So sometimes I get really jealous. Especially since Aphrodite herself said she was going to make his love life hard. Other girls will flirt with him but he will have no idea, so he doesn't put a stop to it and I'm forced to play jealous girlfriend."

"So…how far have you two gone?" Annabeth turned a very special shade of red that, Jessica (the one who was sent to boot camp) used to call virgin red.

**Annabeth POV**

I actually like Armony she's a good person, but her and her mom kind of get around. After she started to cry over 'Tim' it was obvious that she was definitely not a slut just someone who wanted to find a love of her own. Gods I sound like a lovesick Aphrodite girl. Armony lay down on her bed and closed her eyes in seconds she was in deep sleep. I thought back to Percy and all the times we've been together, even before we were 'together', and I felt myself blush. Maybe they were on to something with that whole blush thing. I lay down and realized how she fell asleep so fast; Armony had one of the softest beds ever. I closed my eyes and felt sleep envelop me. And that night I had good dreams about a certain, green-eyed son of Poseidon.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Ch.13.8 The cat that caught the Canary_

**Marybeth POV**

I woke up on the floor next to Tyson and Max. The DVD menu screen on _Finding Nemo_ was on the TV. Voices could be heard from the hallway. It was Percy and Connor they were arguing about something, but I didn't care too much. So instead I went into the kitchen to get some juice. Miss Soladad was pulling things out of the fridge and I asked her for some juice. She gave me a glass of grape juice since they were out of orange. Then I asked her something that had been bothering me all the time since we got here.

"Miss Soladad?" I asked getting her attention.

"Yes, Marybeth?" Miss Soladad smiled nice. She reminded me of my mom sometimes, nice and pretty but scary too.

"I was wondering why there aren't that many scary monsters here." Ever since we came into Cloudcroft Tyson told me he couldn't smell vey many monsters here. Luckily Tyson's smell keeps away some of the monsters.

"Oh, well aren't you a very perceptive little girl." Miss Soladad smiled making her look like a movie star. "Once upon a time, a long time ago, it was once said that the great god Pan was dead." I remembered this story. But Pan was actually alive in the Labyrinth. "But he was actually alive in a Labyrinth that stretched under North America, specifically a spot underneath Cloudcroft. Though Pan was not dead he also wasn't healthy he was in a state of dying yet never dying." Miss Soladad knew a lot about this stuff even for a person who could see through the mist. "See the power that he still had protected this land from the forces of those monsters that could destroy it. To put it simply his power scared them off." That made a lot of sense. But then I noticed something really off that just didn't add up.

"Miss Soladad what are you?" Miss Soladad smiled at me like the way a cat does after they eat a bird and you know they did it but they don't care cause their cats. Then there was a loud crash. Everyone ran outside. Then Armony screamed. The front of her car was crushed up against a tree. Percy was in the driver's seat and Connor was in the other seat the both smiled funny at Armony then she started screaming in Spanish. By the way that Miss Soladad was looking at Armony, I learned that sometimes its good not being able to understand languages sometimes.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_Ch.13.9 Don't Cha_

**Connor POV**

Okay so maybe hotwiring Armony's mustang so Percy and I could drive it was a bad thing. But in my defense Percy was the one who crashed the car (he can't drive standard). Everything worked out though; Miss Soladad filed an insurance claim and told them Armony had had the accident. Of course Armony hadn't been happy about that. She shot several of her light arrows at us while explaining about how she had worked and saved up the money to buy the car, she even hit us a few times, Percy was okay though. But now we were on our way to Santa Fe to find the temple of the Sun (whatever that is). Despite the whole crashing the car fiasco Miss Soladad, got Poseidon to lend us the van he uses for his aquarium equipment. So I was driving us to Santa Fe using Google maps. In a few more hours we would be in Santa Fe.

**After a few hours**

We would be there in a few hours.

**After a few hours**

Yeah, were lost.

"You should have made a left at Albuqurque." Annabeth corrects my bad navigating skills.

"The map said to take I25 so I did." I explain my clearly rational actions.

"No, the map said take I73." Annabeth protests.

"Are you sure? I think that says l52" Percy chimes in his helpful interpretation.

"This just proves my point!" Armony yells out loud. "People with dyslexia should not read maps! Pull over and ask for directions." Okay that last part was a cheap shot at my manhood. Please a man asking for directions? That's absurd.

"No, I think we need to just turn here." I take the first turn I see.

"Connor this is a turn for Colorado." Armony just had to point out.

"Uhhhh…"

"I have to pee!" Tyson yells out.

"Me too." Says Max.

"Me three." Says Marybeth.

"Fine." I relent to their bladders. But I'm pretty sure it's just a ruse to get me to pull over. The three younger ones of our groups make beelines for the restrooms, While Armony and Annabeth ask for directions. And Percy buys sodas for the rest of us, the clerk ladies flirt pretty heavily with each of us and I can see Annabeth staring daggers into the claerk lady who seems to be favoring Percy. When our business is done we exit the gas station and find the van on fire. Out of the fire wolves of flame shoot forward. From the gas station the Clerk ladies walk out and they suddenly look hotter. Literally, their hair is on fire. They also have a fake bronze leg and a donkey leg; empousa. Then they start to look really good again. Percy and Eye turn Max and Tyson around to keep them from getting spellbound.

"Well look what we have here Micki." The first empousa says to the one that was flirting with Percy more.

"I know Terry. Percy Jackson and some demigod friends." They both cackle as more fire wolves show up and begin to circle us. "We almost had everything until some little demigod had to go and ruin it."

"But since Luke isn't here we will just have to play with you little children." They both cackle again and it sounds like they are trying to cough up a lung. We all huddle and ready our weapons. Armony, Annabeth and Marybeth are facing the empousa so we won't get caught under their spell.

"Annabeth any ideas?" I hear Armony ask.

"Do you think you could shoot the empousa?"

"I could definitely hit one but…after the first shot the other one would most likely be faster than me." That didn't sound promising.

"If I throw something do you think you could hit it?"

"Yeah but-"

"Quiet you little girls! We are trying to laugh at the prospects of killing you."

"Armony," Annabeth is adamant about this plan. I assume Armony nodded. "The rest of you when I say now Armony will strike and we will run forward. Understood?" Annabeth urgently whispered her directions. I heard the rustle of Fabric. "Now!" Annabeth through a prism into the air. Armony is quick she pulls back and readies an arrow. It releases and hit's its mark. The light is broken up into a rainbow. Arrows of every color of the rainbow shoot out and strike the Empousa and their fire wolves. We lung forward and escape the pounce of fire wolves. They conjoin into a very large fire wolf. But it disappears like a candle flame as the empousa die.

"That was cool!" Max yells.

"That was beautiful!" Maybeth yells her own opinion.

"That was hella awesome!" Tyson yelled receiving weird looks. "What do we do about the van?"

"Tyson get our things out of the van before the burn up." Annabeth ordered like nothing had happened. Tyson left to get our things which hopefully weren't burned too badly. "He has a point though we have no idea where we are or how to get to Santa Fe." Annabeth looked at us for any ideas. Tyson came back with the luggage which nothing had been destroyed or damaged too Tartarus. Armony went to open her violin case.

"Crap!" She yelled pulling her hand back. She put her finger in her mouth sucking on the burn. "Sorry guys the latch was really hot, I forgot that Cyclops can't feel heat like we do." Then things got interesting. Music started playing and Armony started singing.

"_I know you want it_

_It's easy to see"_

Armony ripped the bottom of her shirt to reveal her stomach

"_And in the back of your mind_

_You know you should be on with me"_

Then she started dancing. In a pretty…interesting…way too.

"_Don't Cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me_

_Don't Cha wish your girlfriend was freak like me_

_Don't Cha_

_Don't' Cha"_

Then Annabeth started dancing with her. There doing that 'bump and grind' lesbian dance together.

"_Don't Cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me_

_Don't Cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me_

_Don't Cha"_

Then they start washing the van, even though it still on fire. Armony is on the hood and Annabeth is spraying her with a water hose. Then Armony takes a bite out of a burger for some reason. _"Yah know I would like a different kind of meat in my mouth Connor…Connor." _Holy shit. I have no idea what is going on but this is pretty awesome.

"Connor, Connor, Connor!" Someone splashed me with water and suddenly everything is back to normal. Percy starts to shake me since I haven't said anything.

"What? What?" I yell I'm back to my senses.

"We were just wondering if you were okay you were staring off at the van with funny look on your face." Marybeth clues me in on what happened while I was 'distracted'.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Thanks Tyson." Armony pats Tyson's shoulder as she puts on a pair of sunglasses. They look like Oakleys except the little circle thing has lines poking out from it so it looks like a sun. She looks straight at the sun. At one point when I was five Travis told me that wearing sunglasses meant you could look directly at the sun…I believed him… But Armony pulls back the string on her bow and holds an arrow of light in place, it grows in brightness as it takes in the sunlight around it. Armony releases it into the sky, it flies straight up.

"Um what was that supposed to do?" Percy asks her.

"OW!" A loud yell booms like thunder across the sky. Marybeth and Max cover their ears. A large ball of light lands on the ground in front of us, and out steps lord Apollo (who looks kind of like my dead older brother Luke before he got dead), and the ball of light changes into a red Maserati Spyder. Holy crap, that's the sun. "Armony what did you shoot me with an arrow for? I almost sent part of the state into a drought." Apollo says while Armony hugs him tightly. I thought they had a rocky relationship.

"Yeah I'm sorry about that dad. But we need a ride to Santa Fe." Armony steps back and now everything makes sense…except for my hallucination.

"Armony we are not allowed to help you guys on quests." Apollo says sternly.

"I know but we need a ride to Santa Fe for the Fiesta del Sol." Armony and Apollo trade a look.

"Oh well that is a completely different matter." His teeth are really white. "However I will be watching so I expect that you and your friends will enjoy the festival for a while after words you guys can do whatever you want."

"That sounds great." Armony smiles a smile that I have never seen her make before. Percy walk around the car/sun and Apollo takes notice of his cousin.

"Can I drive?" Percy asks.

"No!" Armony yells. "And neither can you!" She turns around and yells at me.

"Can I then?" Max asks.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Ch.13.91_ _The tale of Lovers_

**Armony POV**

As it turns out you should never under any circumstances ever let an eight year old drive the sun, a regular car? Yeah, of course. The Sun? Never! I thought you know that my dad would watch Max while he was driving but no, my dad decided that now was the perfect time to ask me about that boy he saw me with. And I love my little brother but, he really needs to work on his whole "if you see an animal in the street you should totally run over it" tendencies. Gods am I lucky I still have eight years before he is allowed on a road. Anyway I digress; after we land and we give our thanks to my dad we enter the festival and it is in full swing. Of course first we need to find a table to set our things at first. We send Tyson since he all he has to do is walk around and people tend to let him do whatever. He gets us a nice big table next to the dance floor, or a cleaned out part of a parking lot with a big stage.

"So what is Fiesta Del Sol about anyway?" Percy asks. I am shocked to the bone until I remember that Max and I are the only ones from New Mexico.

"Well it celebrates a great love story." I say. I'm pretty sure I'm getting that 'dreamy' look in my eye. Lois would be proud. Marybeth and Tyson lean in to listen better. And it is quite obvious that Annabeth and Percy are holding hands underneath the table. "See long ago a tribe lived prosperously, however they had one trouble for living so well, they had made a pact with a demon." Marybeth and Tyson both make noises, they are really into this. Max has heard it a million times.

"This demon every year he would call for a beautiful maiden to be his wife. So year after year families would hide their daughter's away or try to hide their beauty so the demon would not pick them. But eventually the chief of the tribe had a daughter and she was well beloved by her people for being kind, compassionate, smart, and wise and was quite beautiful. So every member knew that if the demon ever set his sights on her she would be his wife." Marybeth raised her hand. "Yes Marybeth."

"I was wondering how come he kept getting wives after he would take one." Smart girl, even though she interrupted my story.

"When his wives became pregnant they would be in horrible pain and eventually when the baby was born the mother would die because of the pain." After her curiosity was satisfied I continued with the story. "The chief's daughter, Ofelia, was always hidden from the monster but however the year the demon came for another wife he chose Ofelia's best friend. Ofelia knew she couldn't allow her friend to be the demons wife for she was already betrothed to a great hunter whom she loved very much so Ofelia left her hiding place and called the demon's name before he was able to take her friend. The demon saw her face and immediately he changed his mind and decided to take Ofelia as his wife. However Ofelia had a plan."

"_Demon, she called I will become you wife however I wish to have the wedding that I had always dreamed of I will sew my own dress and when it is done we shall be wed. _In the demon's shock at Ofelia's declaration he immediately agreed. So Ofelia began to sew her dress for her wedding."

"Okay, how is this story about love?" Connor interpreted my narration.

"Well if people would stop interrupting me I could get to that part!" Seriously how have they not heard of patience?

"Ofelia's father sent a reward for a warrior who could save his daughter; if they saved her they could have her. However all the warriors that arrived fought the demon and lost their lives in a matter of minutes. One day the tribe had a visitor. Quetzal, the son of the god of the Sun, visited the tribe for supplies. He was a well known hunter he traveled across the lands finding creatures and slaying them for his trophy. He met with the Chief's daughter by accident while she was collecting more supplies for her dress. They fell in love, however the day of the wedding approached much too quickly. Quetzal followed the demon and Ofelia to their new 'home' after the wedding waiting for a chance for him to kill the demon so Ofelia may be free. As the demon laid Ofelia down ready to take her body Quetzal attacked with a magic knife given to him by his father." I looked at Tyson and Marybeth; they were drinking in every word. "He killed the demon and Ofelia was set free." They cheered and I almost felt bad for the next part of the story.

"However Ofelia's father was a greedy man." Tyson and Marybeth both gasped dramatically. "He saw that he could use Quetzal to get immortality from his father. So he created a most horrible trap one that the demon himself used to trap his wives; only death could escape this cage. He sent a messenger to tell Quetzal tha Ofelia wished to meet him in her tent however when he entered he was trapped within a cage. Learning of her father's treachery Ofelia, knew what she must do. When her father fell asleep she ran to Quetzal. She smiled at her beloved one last time as she placed her hand into the cage holding Quetzal's before she took the knife she had hidden and stabbed it into her heart. As only death could escape the cage, with her sacrifice Quetzal was able to escape."

"No!" Marybeth yelled she got really into it. "You said this was a great love story, not a bad sad one." Annabeth stood up and hugged her crying little sister.

"Sometimes the sad stories are the great ones, Marybeth we as demigods should know this better than most people." Annabeth explained to no avail.

"Anyway I'm not done." It gets good I wasn't going to hold out on this part. "So Quetzal created a funeral pyre for his beloved made from cinnamon and myrrh. Every member of the tribe came to attend the funeral. Quetzal lit the pyre and instantly the flames grew higher than anyone had ever seen before. As everyone cried for the death of Ofelia, the flames shaped into a body. They stared in awe as the flames became Ofelia. She smiled upon her people and held her hand out to Quetzal he took it and they both ascended into the realm of the gods to live together for all eternity."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Ch.13.92 Fiesta_

**Connor POV**

Once the story telling was done we bought some food and began to snack. The festival was really festive. Everywhere on the dance floor couples danced together. Tejano music was the most prevalent but they played music I could understand too. It was pretty fun the deep fried snickers I had eaten were like ambrosia on crack, except they had the opposite effect (artery clogging goodness).

"Hey do you guys want to dance?" Armony asked us all.

"Sure!" Marybeth said on an obvious sugar high.

"Tyson?" Armony asked the Cyclops. He smiled happily and jumped up from his chair. Armony turned to Max who shook his head. I agreed with him. The stereo were pumping '_Dynamite_' by Taio Cruz. Armony is definitely no professional dancer but she looked like she was having the time of her life. It was infectious…too bad I don't know how to dance. Tyson and Marybeth were basically wailing limbs, in Marybeth case not a bad thing, in Tyson case potentially destructive that's why I had to watch. Eveeryone put their hands in the air in time with the song just jumping and having fun. Percy and Annabeth decided to have in on the fun leaving me and Max by ourselves. Then '_Hey Soul Sister_' started playing and Max got up as well. It was pretty funny to watch Max and Armony dance together they both acted out the words to the song. Watching Armony was great…until she noticed I was the only one not dancing. She sashayed over in time with the music.

"Come on Connor it's time to dance." She was panting and there was a light sheen on her skin from her sweat.

"Naw I'm okay with sitting."

"Come dance with us Connor." She smiled what I think was encouragement.

"No really I'm fine with just sitting." I was not going to get up. Then we started arguing more that we missed some kind of announcement, I think it was about a prize someone had won. Then we were surrounded by security guards a lot of em'.

"Hey you two come with us!" The one in charge shouted over the music.

**Yeah that was waaaayyy longer than what it was supposed to be. C'est la vie. I know that I said after this chapter that I was going to return to the plot but after writing "A tale of lovers" I got an idea for Connor and Armony so I'm going to write that before I return to the plot.**

**Here's an apology to any French people who might have read this and felt offended.**

**Also about ch. 13.4 the gang part actually happened to my mom.**

**Another thing If I'm get any flames about Poseidon and Misss Soladad I will force them to have a child to spite you. If you have a legitimate reason to dislike it tell me, but I wrote it for some fun so have fun with the idea.**


	14. Chapter 14

**More filler, but fun filler. Also a rather long AN.**

**Regarding my predictability, I guess I am very predictable because I purposely leave clues that are important to the story. So if you guessed that Armony is a child of Apollo that's because I purposely wrote in the clues. "reviewer" Rachel's prophecy was obvious…to what? Explain please. Anyway thank you to all my reviewers for trying to help me become a better writer.**

**Anyway this chapter is dedicated to AnimalOfSins for being a Charmed fan…although this doesn't have anything to do with Charmed in it.**

**IMPORTANTE, every song I use in this story has a purpose and significant meaning to the chapter and emotional state of Armony. So tell me if you think they match.**

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

_Ch.14 I become a Cyclops's Bride_

"Is there a reason that you need us to go with you?" Connor asked the burly security guard. Connor stood up out of the chair, I gotta say that he looked kind of bad ass all un-scared and defiant even surrounded by five security guards.

"Yes." The security guard answered.

"And it is…" I tried to lead the guard to a substantial answer.

"Just come on you kids." He gestured to the other guards and they began to close in on us. Connor tensed and got ready to fight I followed his lead. Annabeth and Percy came running over but neither of them seemed alarmed at the circle of security guards.

"Congratulations on winning guys!" Percy yelled between the security guards.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned Percy but Annabeth answered instead.

"That contest that they just had." She pointed to a large screen that had a projection with a picture of me trying to get Connor to dance and underneath the screen it said "This year's Ofelia and Quetzal." Annabeth pulled a brochure from her pocket (I have no idea when or where she got it). "It says that this year the officials of the festival will choose two people from the crowd to play this year's Ofelia and Quetzal in the play that they play on that screen." She explained using the word 'play' a lot.

"Oh." I knew of the play but before it was always done by auditions of local actors.

"Yeah so you two need to come with us so we can get you ready." The security guard started to push us before we even had a chance to _try _and say otherwise. Quickly we were ushered into a large rectangular building. On the front of it the words "Blair's Cosmetology School" was displayed in large neon lettering (it seemed a bit tacky but it was a cosmetology school…). Connor was taken to the room on the left while I was pushed into the room on the right.

"Here is this year's Ofelia." A much nicer security guard escorted me into a room filled with women with caked on make-up and aprons over leopard print outfits. I was getting a bad feeling about this. They looked me and down while the security guard left, making me incredibly uncomfortable.

"She's a pretty one." The first lady said in an accent I couldn't place. She held out her hand with much too long acrylic nails painted red. She reminded me a lot of Fran Drescher on "The Nanny". "Hello hun I'm Blair." I shook her hand. She pulled me close and began to scrutinize my face. "You're a shy one aren't yah?"

"What? No, I-I uh, u-uh…what?" Blair gave me a pitying nod while I stuttered.

"It's okay hun. Your stage fright shy huh?" That was just spooky.

"How did you?" She cut me off with a comforting pat on my arm.

"Hun, I can tell cause your skin has no signs of regular make-up use and that you seemed a bit at odds to be center of attention." Blair stepped back from me and circled around me. "Sheila what do you say?" Sheila was black so her make-up really stood out on her face, electric blue eye-shadow, forest green mascara, super red lipstick; she was also wearing a neon pink bob wig.

"By her posture I would say she's a performer but… since there are no signs of make-up use I would say she performs with a band or choir so she doesn't wear make-up so as not to bring attention to herself." Okay there little conclusions were really creepy (right, but creepy).

"Don't worry about the play though hun," Blair stopped circling me and stood in front of me again. "It's pre-recorded so you won't have to worry about bein' in front of people." Well that was a relief. "Any way hun we need you to disrobe so we can get this show on the road." Blair pushed me behind one of those foldable blind things that you see in the movies. I 'disrobed' and put on the white robe that was hanging over the blind.

"So what exactly am I going to be wearing?" Sheila gave a cheshire cat grin and pulled me to the other side of the room. On one of those headless and armless manikins was a brown Indian (Native American) style dress. It went over the left shoulder and was a light brown with cream colored tassels on the bottom of the dress and on the neck line. glass beads decorated each of the leather tassels casting rainbow effects in the light. A turquoise fetish of an eagle settled on the neck of the mannequin.

"Wow. It's so pretty." Was all I could muster in my awe struck moment.

"Why thank you I took the basic design and amped it up a bit." Sheila was smiling at the dress like it was her newborn child. "Anyway I will get you into that after we get your make-up on." She pushed me to the other side of the room and sat me down in front of a desk with three mirrors and light bulbs on each edge of the mirrors. Sheila flipped on the lights and I went temporarily blind. Who I assume was Blair turned me in the chair that I was sitting on. I tried to look at her but the damn glare from the lights didn't allow me to see very much.

"Hmmm…" Blair hummed. My light blotches began to dissipate and I realized Blair was holding a rubber-band to my lip. And before I could react she popped it on my lower lip.

"OW!" I yelled putting my hand to my now throbbing lip. But Blair caught my hands and continued to stare at my mouth. "What the 'H' Blair?"

"Sheila, get me a red rose 32 and make it a tulip twist." Blair yelled to Sheila who went rushing off for…I actually have no idea what. "Sorry about the thump but I need to bring out the natural colors of _you_ with this make-up. I don't want to paint you up like a two dollar whore."

"That really hurt (Charlie)!" He, he, he.

"Oh simmer down. You need to suffer a bit for your beauty. Besides I know that when I'm done you will look good enough to eat." Blair smiled with grin that immediately had me nervous. "Oh he is just going to love you!" She gushed.

"Who?" I questioned. Blair looked shocked at my question but quickly regained her composure. "Well this year's Quetzal of course."

"C-Connor?" I could feel myself blush at the implication. Shit, I was going to act like I was in love with him wasn't I? Oh, even bigger shit, what about the kiss that Ofelia and Quetzal share at the end of the play?

"Why you looked so freaked girl?" Sheila was back with a tube of lipstick and was looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"The girl is obviously nervous about the kissing scene at the end of the play before Quetzal and Ofelia walk off into the realm of the gods." Okay the mind reading stuff was getting annoying. "Let's start with make-up now." Sheila handed the lipstick to Blair and returned to gather what she called props for after we were done.

"This lipstick will make your lips have that pouty thing going on." Blair explained while she put the make-up on me. She then wiped a little of the lipstick on my cheeks and **vigorously** rubbed it in. "This way your cheeks have a natural looking blush." She then pulled out some blue mascara.

"Uhm, Blair no offense but blue mascara?" She looked at me like I was a something to pity.

"Hun, this stuff is so dark that it looks black but it has enough of a blue tint that it will bring out the blue in your eyes." She waved off my protest and began to apply the stuff to my eyelashes. "You are so lucky to have such long eyelashes, it's a shame that they don't curl in the best manner however." Was that a compliment? Or an insult?

Then she moved onto my hair. After she brushed it and made my scalp feel like it was on fire. She hummed again and then began to braid some of the hair on the right side of my face. But Sheila interrupted her. "Blair, use this." She presented Blair with something I couldn't see but I was able to notice her nod enthusiastically. "Close your eyes darlin'." Sheila ordered me (though she said it in a kind of nice way). They finished braiding my hair then started very suspicious hushed whispers and sprayed something into my hair. Then I felt a sharp poke and a clip on my head.

"Okay now you may stand up and get into costume then you may look at yourself in the mirror." They both ordered at once. I wonder if they planned that. I returned behind the blind with the dress. It was one of the softest thing I had ever worn the only problem was I think it was a bit tight. It was **very** snug.

"Hey Sheila this is kind of tight could you let it out some?" I was feeling pretty self-conscious in the costume.

"Please darlin' the way you wear that is just perfect but I guess I could let it out a little somethin'." Sheila and I walked back into behind the blind and Sheila began undoing something once she was done though she spotted my bracelets. "Oh my, these are quite somethin'. Blair, look at these." Blair came over and looked at my bracelets. "These would be great accessories on the dress.

"I don't think so." Blair looked at my bracelets wearily like they would bite her.

"Yes they would!" Sheila was too excited to realize Blair's weirdness. "But not as bracelets I already have some set for you to wear, however…" Blair disappeared and returned with a leather belt that now had my bracelets attached to it. She wrapped the belt around me and shoved me in front of the mirror.

"Oh…I…uh." I was speechless. I didn't look anything like me. My lips were fuller and red (without looking fake) and my cheeks had a blush that looked natural not like I had just walked into a boy's locker room (that happened once, damn you Jessica). My eyes were a darker blue than normal and surrounded by curling lashes. I reached to touch my eyes and realized that the hair that Blair had braided had a red ribbon tied into the braid with a turquoise bead holding it together. With my attention turned to my hair I noticed that tucked underneath the braid a blue feather stuck out and then I noticed the glitter. It wasn't a lot of glitter but there was enough that may hair sparkled when I moved. The dress was still tight but not as tight as before so now it showed of my curves. I knew I had curves but I never knew I had _curves_. And Sheila was right about my bracelets the sun was positioned on my right front hip and the moon on the back left of my hip. Okay despite that Sheila and Blair's eccentric-ness they knew what they were doing.

"You look gorgeous." Sheila told me and I felt myself blush. No one had ever called me that before. Sure my ex-boyfriends called me pretty or hot but never what was a synonym and basically the equivalent to beautiful (my mom has but she's my mom, she is supposed to tell me that).

"You really do." Blair agreed. I put on the eagle fetish and Sheila adjusted it to where the wing tips curved with my collar bone. I also wore beaded bracelets and beaded moccasins. "Now Armony, sit tight while we check on _Quetzal_. We had a few of our…apprentices handle his transformation. But let's just say there is a reason they are in cosmetology school." I sat in the room and looked at myself in the mirror (I'm not conceited but I liked the transformation).

"No, No, NO!" This will not do!" Sheila yelled from outside the room. I peeked out the door and she wasn't in the hallway so that means she yelled really loudly. "He looks like a bondage slave!" Okay several images were going through my mind and they were all hilarious. "Quetzal is supposed to look like every girl's wet-dream. He looks like…ugh…just no. Now get out of my way!" After Sheila finished yelling I heard a door slam and everything was eerily quiet after that.

"OW!" Connor yelped in pain.

"Blair, what did you do that for?" Sheila sounded like a cross between anger and amusement.

"Well…he looked like he was into that kind of thing."

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

After a few more minutes a perky red-head in a pink apron, and the most 'hooker' of all stiletto heels called me from the room to wait in the hall. I tried to question her but she was a little too preoccupied trying to get back to the other room, the one Connor was being changed in. After a few seconds of waiting I knew exactly why she was trying to get back into that room. Connor walked out of the room and I swear I could hear a thousand girls swooning. Like my transformation Connor didn't really look like himself, however he looked much better. Even though Connor is well, (how do I out this without being racist?) white, he looked like some ancient warrior lost in time. He was really only wearing a what I think was deer skin pants they were a bit tight but had a loin cloth cover the front and back of him. Do to their tightness all the muscles in Connor's thighs were on full display. Luckily as the pants went lower on his legs they got less tight (otherwise they would have been skinny jeans, seriously skinny jeans on a guy, not hot).

**Breaking the 4****th**** wall**

Apparently my hatred for skinny jeans on guys is so powerful that it has granted me the power to break the fourth wall. Who do I think I am, Deadpool?

Anyway like I said skinny jeans are not hot. There are few **girls **who can pull off skinny jeans. So if few girls can wear them what makes guys think they can wear girl's clothing?

So to all Jonas Brothers and Justin Beiber wannabes stop wearing them. They are not flattering and if you are fat and I mean like really fat don't ever wear them because skinny jeans do not make you look skinny they will make you look fatter. And skinny jeans are also a health hazard. By being so tight the cut off blood circulation, the can cause Restless Leg Syndrome. And if the blood is cut off to your groin it can result in infertility. So if you care about having babies and being healthy and not looking like a total douche don't ever wear skinny jeans!

**Back to Ogling Connor**

The pants had a frill mid leg and he also wore leather moccasins. On a belt Connor had a knife that looked like it had been the carved out of a fang of some sort. He wasn't wearing a shirt so all of his incredible muscles were on blatant display. He had two dark blue wolf paw print 'tattoos' on his chest, and another tattoo of a red snake circled his upper arm beneath his shoulder and a red sun on the other shoulder. My eyes made my way to his face, despite a blush caused by his adoring fans his face was the same. His hair was a bit messier than usual. To put it simply he looked like the warrior son of a god…oh wait, he is.

His eyes met mine and my face instantly grew hot.

"Wow Armony you look great." He smiled and I could feel my knees go weak.

"You're not so bad yourself. Looks like your new look is a real hit, _Quetzal_." Did I just try to flirt? With Connor? He smiled again and damn did he look good.

"Thanks, so _Ofelia_ wanna go out?" I couldn't help but giggle this was kind of fun. Maybe it wouldn't be too hard to act like I was in love with Connor. "It kind of looks like you have stars in your hair." Connor grabbed a lock of my hair looking at the glitter in it.

"O-oh, um I think it's a little flashy. I-I think I might ask them to take out the g-glitter." What the hell is wrong with me? I liked the glitter so why did I just tell him that?

"Don't it's beautiful."

"_Quetzal, Ofelia_ could you to please hurry up, we need to deliver you to the sights where filming will take place." Sheila yelled loud and clear. I ran over so I wouldn't stutter anymore stupid stuff to Connor. We got into a van that drove us to an 'Indian Village' that the festival crew had set up in a park there were a ton of extra's dresses like Indians and Connor and I met the other actors. Ofelia's dad was played by this nice older man; he was dressed in the stereotypical Indian chief costume. I really couldn't see him playing someone who traps his daughter's savior and love in a cage he was that nice. The demon was played by this really tall man, I think he was at least 7ft. He gave me the creeps. His costume consisted of a long cloak made from bear skin with the skull of the bear as a helmet. His face was always in shadow so I never got a look at him. But his smile was kind of like Tyson's but not fun and nice, but more malicious, although I just thought of it as method acting.

"Cast and Crew!" Yelled our director. I found him creepy as well, I'm not sure why but it was just a feeling. "This is the first seen where our demon shall be introduced. Places now!" Everyone scuttled about and the camera started rolling. The Narrator said his lines and then the demon burst onto the scene. HE said his lines and then took one of the extra girls and ran off into the woods. I completed my first scene which was really me just walking around looking happy and being friendly while the Narrator said some stuff about Ofelia being well beloved. Then I was hidden in a pile of straw (I got straw everywhere, _everywhere)_. But my speech where Ofelia confronts the demon got closer and closer and with each minute my stomach would fill with hornets.

"Armony what's wrong?" Connor asked. I was starting to shake I was so nervous.

"I guess I'm just nervous." Connor put his arm around me and I began to feel a little less queasy.

"You'll do fine there isn't an audience and I'm here if you need me." That did the trick.

My scene went off without a hitch (okay I had to do it six different times). And the scene where I meet _Quetzal _was the next on the list. The director had us do it several times but on the fourth time…I went to my starting point and I walked out with my arms full of supplies and I walked into Connor dropping all of my things (that was not in the script).

"I'm sorry." Connor apologized kneeling down helping me pick up the supplies.

"It's alright I had to many things to begin with." We finished putting the things in the basket I had been carrying them in and then we both looked at each other. For some reason we were really close. Our faces were so close I could see Connor's eyes again and I could feel his breath on my mouth. My face decided to turn red at that moment. Connor stood up and helped me stand. "Thank you, warrior." Connor smiled as he realized that I was playing like we did after I first saw him in costume.

"You're welcome. I am Quetzal, son the sun god and blessed by the Great Spirit."

"I am Ofelia, daughter of the chief." This was fun. I had completely forgotten that we were actually surrounded by a crew of people.

"CUT!" Yelled our director. Guess which shot they decided to put in the final edit.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

After…uh…that Connor and I shot the scene where I kill myself. Connor was actually a really good actor. He even cried on his close up after my 'death' and it was convincing. Course he had to stifle his laughter after I tried to plunge the knife into my heart and I ended up shooting the fake blood in the packet I stabbed on his face.

So last but not least was the marriage and captive and kill the demon scenes. The crew went to a cave that was actually in the near the park where the final scene was to be had while the extras took a break and got ready for the funeral scene. After they show the movie on the projector Connor surrounded by the extras is supposed to walk up to a shrine/ funeral pyre that the crew built say Quetzal's final words of goodbye to Ofelia and set it on fire. Once the fire reaches the **(this part was specifically left out so pyromaniacs will not try it at home)** the flames will grow higher and I will walk out from a trapdoor on a set of stair that Connor and I will walk on into the kingdom of the gods. And at the last step we kiss and done. So right now the crew was setting up some things for wedding scene and the demon guy was getting a little too close for comfort.

"I told you this is where they were going to shoot." I turned around to see Annabeth leading Percy, Tyson, Max and Marybeth toward the set.

"Annabeth!" I called. She looked at me and her eyes went wide.

"Armony, oh my gods! Look at you." Percy was staring mouth open as was Tyson. Then I thought of an idea for some fun.

"Hey Annabeth, I get to keep this outfit once everything is over wanna borrow it?" Percy started imagining Annabeth in the costume, I could tell by the drool. She smiled triumphantly. "What are you guys doing over here?" She pulled me to the side like she was telling me a secret.

"Max wanted to see you act." Annabeth whispered. "He kept hinting to it. Then Tyson started and before you know it so did Marybeth." I felt touched. I turned to see Max's dirty blonde head trying to steal the knife from Connor's belt.

"Hey Max I-" But then I was cut off.

"Stop screwing around Armony!" Mr. Director and demon yelled together. "And what are all these children doing here!"

"They just wanted to come see me and Connor they'll be quiet I promise." The director was changing into different shades of red. He just pointed for me to get in my place. I walked over and he didn't yell about my friends at all. But something was up, Tyson normally would have been smiling merrily but he seemed tense was glaring with his eye(s) (it still weird's me out how 'the mist' can make Tyson suddenly have two eyes in the normal parts of the world) at the director and the demon actor. I changed into the wedding dress which was mostly the same except for being white and having a train of swan feathers. I gave my bracelets and original costume to Annabeth for safe keeping. I took my place beside the chief and the demon. The chief said his lines and I said mine and the demon smiled in malicious victory then all hell broke loose with a shift of the wind.

"Cyclops!" I heard someone yell and instantly I thought someone had found out what Tyson was but I turned and saw that it was Tyson who had yelled. He was pointing at the demon actor. He grabbed my wrist and took of his hood/bear skull helmet and beneath lay only one eye. He smiled showing his yellowish brown jagged broken teeth.

"Get rid of them!" He yelled. The crew members began to change, their skin turned ink black and their faces became doggish showing sharp canines. They looked like a cross between sea-lions, dogs and something gross. There webbed hands were eerily similar to human hands. The Cyclops through me over his shoulder and made his way to the cave that we were going to shoot my captive scene in…I didn't think it would become real.

"Let go of me!" I screamed. I tried beating his back but it was like punching a tree. Eventually my hands hurt and I had to stop. "What the hell is going on!" He laughed, the bastard laughed.

"Well my little princess you are now my wife. And I am taking you back to our lovely home." All the anger in me exploded and I started to scream for help. But he laughed again since my friends were getting farther and farther away.

**Connor POV**

Telkhines! We were fighting fucking Telkhines while that bastard carried Armony to gods know where. Annabeth had tossed me celestial bronze sword she had kept in her backpack. I cut the arm off of one the minute that sword was in my hand. But my eyes were on the director. This whole time I saw them leering at Armony but I figured 'Hey who wouldn't look at her she was totally beautiful.' But I knew something was wrong. Armony's screams got quieter and quieter.

"Connor behind you!" Annabeth yelled. I turned just in time to block the claws of a Telkhine. The grin on its stupid dog like face was pissing me off. Suddenly its eyes went glassy and it disappeared, a knife fell to the floor. I spotted Max behind Tyson looking this way. I turned around to face the director.

"You little shits won't get out of this!" He barked in a weird New Jersey accent.

"Where did he take Armony?" I questioned. My sword was ready to do some pruning on his limbs. "By the way did you know we have Percy Jackson here with us?" I saw a bubble move down his oily looking throat.

"We will kill you!" He grabbed a sword from behind him from a box labeled props, which I now realized were real. He slashed but I parried his sword easily and slashed down his arm, letting it drag. He winced at the pain and howled he attacked again this time faster. I jumped back but another Telkhine got me from behind. The attack was shallow but it was enough to make me realize that all the crew members were Telkhines. A shadow loomed over us and I was back to fighting the director.

"Thanks Tyson." He had grabbed the telkhine that slashed me by the throat and through it against a tree. Behind me I could hear Percy annihilating our enemies. The Director lunged at me but I used a trick that Luke taught me. We clashed swords and I twisted his out of his hand.

"Now do you feel like talking?" I held my sword to his throat.

"The caves, the caves." He answered quickly.

"Thanks" I thanked him with my sword through his neck. "Come on we're going to the caves."

"Uh…which way are the caves?" Marybeth asked.

"I know." Tyson announced. "I can smell them."

**Armony POV**

Normally when I cry it's because I had just watched the _The Notebook, _or the beginning to _Up_, or some other equally heart string pulling movie or book (_Twilight_). However now I'm crying because this asshole has just chained me up to a wall and is undressing me. There are no words to describe the shame and violation that this _thing_ is making me feel. My only ray of hope is that because he is taking his time that I might be saved before he gets somewhere. I'm in my underwear shaking from the cold of the fucking cave and the fear deep in my gut. Despite my fear I'm a little annoyed that this guy is folding the clothes he took off of me. "Blair would hate for me to have to get another dress for next year's festival" And now I feel betrayed and stupid.

"Armony!" My name echoed through the many caves and tunnels. I look up and again it's just him smiling at me. Cyclops can mimic voices perfectly the entire time he took to bring me hear he kept toying with me, making me believe Annabeth or Connor or Percy were near on his trail. Another sob shook through me as I looked at him through my tears. He placed a big meaty hand on my face.

"Armony!" His eye widened in shock. He didn't say that, did he?

"Connor!" I screamed. Adventus growled.

"Fucking demigods." He got up to leave, but stopped before he was out of the cavern. "I won't let them have you I will kill them all." I began to cry again. I don't know where my hope went but it certainly wasn't near me I stared at the fire that he lit in the corner of the room maybe the light could make me go blind so I won't have to look at him anymore. In the embers I saw something. I have no idea what I saw but it was something. Suddenly my body had heat again. And my heart didn't hurt as much. I don't know why I did but maybe it was just because my despair finally had me done in but I sang.

"_Hold me close_

_Now until forever_

_I'll be unafraid_

_Hold me close_

_Give me back_

_My reason to believe_

_Come and save me"_

**Connor POV**

"Connor, help me please!" Armony was yelling for my help but I couldn't tell where her voice was coming from.

"Shit! Armony where are you!" I yelled into the tunnels.

"Please, he's going to do things to me. Please help me!" She was crying I could hear the sobs in her voice. I was about to run down a tunnel when Annabeth grabbed me she looked freaked and calm at the same time.

"Connor, one he is a Cyclops he can mimic her voice and two we are in a left over part of The Labyrinth." Annabeth touched the Daedalus' mark on the side of the cave. When she was sure I wasn't going to bolt she let go of my arm. "Tyson can you smell her?"

"No." Tyson answered dejected. "His smell is covering up everything."

"Maybe we should split up?" We'll each take our sibling." Percy suggested.

"I don't think we should split up Percy." Annabeth was leaning more toward freaked now.

"_Hold me Close"_

"Armony?" I stopped to listen. "Guys quiet down can you hear that."

"Connor what are you talking about? I can't hear anything."

"_Now Until Forever"_

"I can hear her too." Max looked off toward a tunnel; the middle tunnels.

"Guys follow me!" I yelled an ran toward her voice. I knew it was Armony there was no way someone could fake her voice when she is singing.

"_I'll be unafraid"_

It was her I know it it was just like the first time I heard her sing it was like a prayer.

"_Hold me Close"_

Just like the first time I wanted to, to hold her close but this time I wanted to do what it sang at the end.

"Connor, wait up! We're coming with you!" Someone yelled but I couldn't tell who.

"_Give me back_

_My reason to Believe"_

Another right, through this tunnel then a left, and another.

"Do it Connor, save my big sister."

"_Come and Save me"_

Armony was chained with her arms above her head to a wall. Fresh tears were falling down her face. She looked up and the moment she saw us more tears began to fall but the look of fear on despair on her face changed to a smile warmer than the sun.

"Armony!" Max yelled and ran to his sister's side. Annabeth was next to him in a flash trying to unlock the locks on Armony's wrists.

"Crap why is this so much harder than in the movies?" Annabeth sighed.

"Just pick me up I'll do it." Max huffed at her. In no time Armony was free and hugging Max way to tightly.

"Thank you guys thank you so much." She was crying again and starting to get snotty. She looked kind of cute.

"Who do you think you are freeing my wife?" We all turned to see the Cyclops looming over us holding a large club. He brought it down and tried to smash Percy. That was a bad idea. Due to Percy's curse of Achilles, he is invincible in battle. The club broke into thousands of pieces as it came down on Percy's head. The Cyclops stared scared, mouth wide open.

"I think you broke your stick." Percy said.

"Ah!" Armony screamed and through Max's knife into the Cyclops' eye. "Take that you...!" Then she started saying really bad words that I couldn't understand (the worst part is they were in English). The Cyclops fell back screaming covering his now useless eye. I pulled out Max's knife and I killed the Cyclops.

\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/

**Armony POV**

To say that I am grateful for what my friends did would be the understatement of the century. I owe them my life; especially Connor. Annabeth told me how Connor was able to figure out where I was by hearing my singing. I owe him a lot. Luckily Adventus hadn't torn up my dress so I was able to walk around without being in only my underwear.

"There you two are!" The camera man for the play came running up. "I've been trying to catch up to you two. After you killed the demon you walked off before I could bring you back for the final scene."

"Excuse me?" He saw us kill Adventus and wasn't freaking out?

"The funeral scene, we need to get you two in place while we play the movie for the audience." He was trying to be easy about this but he was obviously getting frustrated. 

"It's the mist he didn't see what actually happened." Annabeth whispered. Oh…I really wish that made more sense.

/\\\/\\\/\\/\/\/\/\\\/\\\/\\\

**Annabeth POV**

"You know this isn't all that bad of a movie." Percy whispered in my ear while we sat down watching the play. It actually wasn't that bad of a date movie considering that we knew the stars. And the production value was actually really good. Marybeth and Max sat next to Tyson watching the movie, thanks to Armony and Connor's involvement we got great seats. "Those two aren't that bad of actors." I looked up at the movie it was the scene where Ofelia and Quetzal first meet. Connor had just knocked into Armony and she dropped the things she was carrying. She looked up and a deep blush spread over her face. I couldn't help but smile.

"You know Percy I don't think there _that_ good of actors."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

**Armony POV**

I must really have Nightingale Syndrome cause now I am intrigued at the prospect of kissing Connor. I'm watching the movie from my hiding place and I can't stop staring at his lips (or his butt). The killing the demon scene was playing now and the mist (though I still have no idea what it is) worked wonders. It showed Adventus undressing me and my real tears, if he even dares to try and come back I swear I will castrate him then I will kill him, but suddenly it skips to Connor surrounded by Annabeth, Percy, Tyson, Max and Marybeth but their dressed like Indians and then it shows him attacking and killing him while the Annabeth and Max helped me out of the chains. Then it skipped to the killing myself scene and now the funeral scene was about to be done.

Connor walked out with torch looking sad and mournful. The extras walked with him mirroring his look of grief. He raised his torch in the air and began his speech. The whole time I was too busy checking him out to actually pay attention I almost missed my cue. But the load roar of fire snapped me back to my senses. I climbed out of the trapdoor and stood on the stairs. I looked at Connor and smiled. He plastered a look of pleasure and surprise on his face.

"Quetzal, come with me my love. Let us ascend into the realm of the gods and live together." I held out my hand to him and Connor climbed the stairs and stood next to me. He took my hand and I swear I felt an electric current travel through my body. We climbed the final steps and stood on the top. He leaned in for the kiss as did I. Our lips were so close that we almost touched then the flames grew even higher and a loud 'caw' of a bird called through the air. The flames shaped into a bird and flew into the sky. I looked down and saw Max smiling sheepishly.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"So how did you know that you were supposed to put the egg in the funeral pyre?" I questioned my little brother.

"Well in the brochure it is called shrine of the sun, and Annabeth said that a shrine and a temple are like the same thing so I figured it would work." He shrugged.

"Apparently," Annabeth got off her cell-phone after talking with Chiron. "Maz completed his quest. That was a Phoenix egg and he hatched it so…" Annabeth trailed off as she looked up in the sky. One of the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen few down and perched itself on Max's arm. In a flash of flame it shrunk into a fire truck red canary.

"Well I guess he really likes you." I noted.

"Yeah." Max smiled petting his new pet.

"Why don't you name him?" Connor suggested.

"Okay." Max put his hand on his chin thinking. "Anastasios."

**Ending AN. To any Charmed and or Daniel X fans I have a crossover between Charmed and Daniel X in the works. However I'm guessing since you guys are reading a Percy Jackson Fan Fic you're probably not.**

**But for those of you who are… here's the beginning 'thing' to the story.**

**The Witching Hour**

Darkness and Light

Disgust and Desire

With weakness of Man and alien Might

Can one survive through hell's Fire?

With words sincere yet thoughts redone

What is said, intent for fun

The Witching hour has just begun


	15. Chapter 15

**We start to return to the plot.**

'**Wonderful' thank you so much for the review, you gave me sound advice and made me feel all giddy. About 'hon' I was basing Blair on a 'Paige from Degrassi' kind of thing with a 'Fran Drescher' twist.**

**And I still have not read 'The Lost Hero' I keep telling myself to but I'm sure if I read it I'll want to make a fanfic for that, then I'll be even more distracted. But let's get this out of the way real quick; Blair cannot read emotions, she has been in the make-up biz for so long that she can make accurate correlations from a person's skin, posture and clothes to their personalities and lives. Now, think real quick, how long would Blair have to be in the make-up biz before she noticed these correlations (hint: she is not very smart)? **

**And in the story I never described Blair as old looking, did I?**

**Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_Ch.15 Dating…Why is it so hard?_

"Will you go on a date with me?" I was not expecting that. This morning when I woke up I thought today was just going to be another day; flying with Snowday, training with Clarisse, working on the new archery field, doing some other things (I was just gonna wing it), eat dinner and then sing at the campfire. This however just caught me completely off guard. And every fiber of my being was yelling yes, yes, HELL YES!

But I digress that is not how the day started. It started with a completely different question actually, one that I was not prepared for that early in the morning. One that depending on your answer can change your life. "Truth or Dare?"

"Come on Armony," Kayla my sister was trying to get me to play along. I learned three days after becoming the Apollo cabin counselor that when Kayla set her mind to something not even divine wrath could stop her. "Truth or Dare?" This time Kayla was bent on getting the entire camp to play along in one huge game of 'Truth or Dare' whether they knew it or not.

"Fine, fine….Truth." I gave in and Kayla smiled in a way that instantly made me feel nervous. When I was fourteen I was nowhere near that mischievous. And the fact that we were in a very crowded Mess Hall eating breakfast, where anyone could overhear something potentially disastrous was not helping either.

"Who are you crushing on right now?" Oh, well that wasn't that bad.

"Logan Lerman." I answered as easy as if she had asked me 'what color is your hair'. Kayla looked at me confused. "What? I saw him in Hoot and he was trying to save those owls and it was just so cute. Not to mention he was too." Kayla raised an eyebrow and gave me that _'Oh no you didn't just skate around my question' _look.

"You know what I meant who are you crushin' on here?" She gestured to the camp in a wide arm movement and a head bob.

"Sorry Kayla, one answer per question via 'Truth or Dare'." No wonder Max liked skating around my questions it was kind of fun. She huffed away to hang with Lois.

**Kayla POV**

I looked back to make sure I was out of ear shot of Armony. "Lois," I called to Lois to stop her from staring at Nico's butt, which admittedly is hard to do…he has a nice one. "She didn't answer me instead she gave me some nonsensical thing about Logan Lerman." Lois barely took notice of me, and then popped out of her Nico daze. Yeah, opposites attract was totally real.

"Oh, isn't he Jewish?"

"I don't know." I was kind of pissed I needed her Aphrodite girl love expertise.

"Oh…He looks kind of like Percy right?" We both looked toward the Poseidon table. "Nah." We said at the same time. Yeah, we practiced that. Looking at another boy cleared Lois's mind and she went back to her perky normal self. "Well maybe Armony doesn't like Connor like that."

"But they would be so cute together." I disputed back.

"And that would free Malcolm for you." I opened my mouth to argue, but she got me. "Anyway, Connor definitely likes her. We could use 'Truth or Dare' for recon. And make sure Connor gets the intel. so he can sweep her of her feet."

"Lois you are a genius."

"I know. Now if only everyone else would acknowledge that."

**Armony POV**

"Hey Armony?" I shouldn't have turned around Clarisse jabbed me with her electric spear the electricity surged through my body. I screamed and finally Clarisse stopped the pain. I turned around to see Lois behind me.

"WHAT?" I yelled. She smiled a gorgeous smile that would make Hollywood stars jealous. She was completely unaware that she just got me electrocuted.

"Truth or Dare?"

"Seriously!" I was past livid and ready to break some bones. Being electrocuted will do that to you. "You distract me when I'm having a match against Clarisse for this! What the Hell!"

"Dancer, just play the game the sooner you're done with that the sooner we can get back to training." I was about to yell back at Clarisse until a remembered rule number one of Camp Half-Blood never make Clarisse mad.

"Truth." I sighed dramatically.

"What is your favorite Candy?" Really? Oh my gods.

"Nerds okay, I like nerds." I yelled. She smiled and nodded. Then she looked over my shoulder and waved 'hi' to someone. "Hi Connor." I turned to see Connor with a suspicious smile on his face. He had just beaten another camper in a mock duel he looked hot…I mean in temperature he was all sweaty and…muscul- no I mean he was- AH! Forget it. "Okay well I'll be going now." Lois tried to back off but I grabbed her arm.

"Nuh uh. Truth or Dare?" I asked her. I tried to sound as scary as I could and by the look on her face I think I succeeded.

"Dare?" Lois replied with a nervous pitch in her voice.

"Good. I dare you to dress up gothic for the rest of the day." Her eyes went wide and her irises turned neon orange.

"No…no, no, NO!" She fell onto her knees and started to beg. "Please for all that is good in this world no. I can't, come on I'll do anything else; dress in drag, cut my hair, make out with another girl, bite off a bat's head, lick the bottom of Tyson's shoe. Please anything but that!" This was actually not the reaction I was expecting; it was better. Dressing like a Goth is like sacrilege for a preppy blonde like Lois. Which is really weird considering she is totally gaga over Nico; or is Nico punk? Or Emo?

"Back to training, Dancer!" Clarisse yelled and I was quick to forget about the crying Lois and get back to training. The entire day went by like that morning. Kayla succeeded and the entire camp was playing a game of 'Truth or Dare'. So far I had gotten through the entire game by choosing truth it was great. I didn't have to shave my hair or dye it a strange color (those poor Aphrodite girls) or watch my significant other make-out with the oracle (Annabeth was not happy about that, although I'm not sure about Percy) or streak naked across the camp. Although it wasn't all bad, I was able to get a box of Nerds from dare on a Chris. Of course the Hermes cabin dares were the worst and the even the truths were pretty bad. I had to actually explain that my first crush was on Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon.

Don't laugh at me he was mysterious and cute and just so cool.

As the day went on it got weirder. While I was walking with Annabeth (after the smooching fiasco) to the Archery field range I saw Connor in the funniest get up I had ever seen. He was dressed in a long-sleeve button down shirt, with pens in the pocket, and slacks and the nerdy-est glasses I had ever seen. And his hair was gelled and combed and parted to the side. The minute I saw him I couldn't stop laughing. Annabeth took one look and burst out laughing with me.

"Oh my gods Connor who dared you to dress like a geek?" He blushed, which was kind of cute in the geek get-up.

"I'm not a geek. I-I'm a nerd." He said it like it was hard to get out. But the moment he said it I started laughing again. I actually had to wipe a few tears from my eyes. Then his brows knitted together in confusion.

"Hey why is your mouth green?" Oh, yeah I had been eating Nerds; best part about Nerds they change your mouth colors. I pulled the box out of my pocket.

"Nerds." I answered. "They are like the best candy ever. Want some?" He looked…well I'm not sure how to explain it, confused and angry and other emotions.

"Sure." I gave him the box but then he started to pull the tap for the Cherry flavored ones; I had to stop him. I placed my hand over the opening just as he was about to touch the box to his lips. So instead he ended up unwillingly kissing my hand…it felt kind of nice. "Hey." I (figuratively) shook off my thoughts.

"Dude, first rule when eating Nerds: eat the gross flavor first."

"Wait I thought you said that Nerds were the best candy ever so how can there be a gross flavor."

"Well for starters the bad flavor is watermelon which always taste gross no matter what candy it is, and two when you're finished eating your candy you leave off on a good flavor; cherry." Then Connor got all blushy again.

"Armony I was wondering if," He seemed kind of nervous.

"Armony!" I looked toward the voice that yelled out and saw Max running toward me.

"Whoa Max what is it? Is everything okay?" He was panting; out of breath.

"Yeah, but" then he gave me his most evil grin I had seen yet. "Truth or Dare?"

"Ugh!" I sighed dramatically this game was getting on my nerves. "Dare." Crap! No, why did I say 'dare'? I meant truth. Wait no I can relax this is my brother he wouldn't…yes he would.

"Good. I dare you to say yes to the next question you are asked." Oh, well that isn't too bad. Ah a** motherfu***** it is I'm surrounded by two Hermes kids. I looked from Max to Connor both opened their mouth to speak but I beat them to it.

"Gotta go, bye!" I yelled and ran off with my fingers in my ears. I didn't stop running until I was far in the woods (and out of breath with my legs feeling like they were on fire) and I was by myself…which made me lost. Crap'ola with a bucket of shit biscuits. While looking for a direction that would lead me to camp I heard a twig snap. I turned around as quickly as I could my bow tight in my grip and an arrow ready. Yeah, I was badass. The golden strands of hair and the bright dawn colored eyes melted any fight I might have had in me. Lucky was just way to good-looking. Why did I have to have a thing for blondes? I mean I don't discriminate but damn those blondes.

"Armony it's me!" Lucky yelled hands up in surrender. Oh yeah I still had my arrow aimed at him.

"Sorry I've just been on edge with this whole truth or dare kick." I returned my bow back into its bracelet form.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Lilith dared me to skinny dip in the lake." Looking at him closer he was wet his t-shirt was sticking to his chest and abs. Gods, why did I miss that…oh my gods, I'm like a teenage boy.

"Well, was it at least refreshing?" I asked. I couldn't help but smile and he did too.

"You could say that." Butterfly wings were fluttering in my stomach at his smile.

"Hey uh I was wondering." His smile turned lopsided and he suddenly looked nervous. "Will you do on a date with me?" I was not expecting that. Well, I was dared.

"Yes."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

**Date Night**

Those butterflies decided to turn into crows, with blades for feathers. I had never felt this nervous for a date before. Every choice I made I second guessed until Lois, Kayla, Annabeth, and or Clarisse forced me to stop. At one point I had tried on four different colors of lipstick and five different dresses. In the end though (after Clarisse held me down to stop me from changing) I decided to wear a burgundy halter top shirt, with black short-shorts and matching sandals and made sure to paint my finger and toe nails to match my shirt. I looked pretty good. Lucky had gotten Mr. D to allow us to go into the city for our date. The classic dinner and a movie…but with the movie first was our date plan. Of course when I told Max I was going on a date he wanted to come along 'to chaperone', which was weird, although I think he just wanted to watch the new animated movie where that famous actor plays that CGI character **(cause that narrows it down)**. Despite all the preparation though the moment I heard the knock on the door I wanted to hide underneath my bed. I looked at the other girls (I banished my brothers from the cabin, oh the joys of being the counselor) each of them gave me a look of encouragement sorta, Annabeth's was hard to read. Before I could rethink Clarisse opened the door and pushed me out. I collided with a hard warm chest I looked up and saw those painted dawn eyes looking down at me.

"Hey." Yes, I am very eloquent. But in my defense he looked so handsome that I was frozen mid thought. He was wearing a nice suede black jacket over a red pollo and dark blue jeans.

"Hey." He smiled and the crows returned to butterflies. "You look great." Okay now I can't stop smiling. "Are you ready?" Oh my gods do I look like I'm not ready is my make-up actually on, does my outfit not match? _"Calm down Armony. You check everything at least twice you are good to go." _

"Yeah, I'm ready."

**Later that night (after the movie)**

The movie was bad, in fact it was horrible but Lucky and I riffed it so that made it much better. I'm not sure how many times I said "sexual tension" when two guys were actually staring each other down ready for a fight. And dinner was good we talked and it was really nice and I told him the reason why I did gymnastics and unlike Connor he didn't laugh when I told him it was because I wanted to be like the Pink Power Ranger.

So at the moment we were walking back to our 'rendezvous' point for Argus to pick us up. It was dark and the streets seemed to be deserted it was like we had the city to ourselves. As it got later a cool breeze began to blow and I shivered and lucky gave me his jacket to wear! And he held my hand the electric tingle were just…(happy)Aww! It took every ounce of will power in me not to squeal in excitement. But as we walked farther back I couldn't help but feel like we were being followed. That and the sound of hissing kept following us. Lucky ventured a peek and when he looked back at me gave me a look and gestured with his eyes to run. So we did but as we ran I could hear footsteps speeding up along with us. We kept running but eventually we took a wrong turn and the panic hit full on. Staring at the dead end Lucky and I had no choice but to fight…without weapons. I had my bow but since it was night I had no source for my arrows.

"Well, well, look what I have found." The voice had a Middle Eastern accent but came from a woman with dark colored skin. She was wearing a turban and sunglasses (if I had not been scared I would have made a snarky comment about that) and a skin tight spandex suit that looked like reptilian skin. "I was hoping for a child of Athena or maybe even Percy Jackson but I guess you two will do." She unwrapped her turban and the muffled hissing I had heard earlier got louder until the snakes were hissing full force excitedly. "A _couple _of statues to start off my new collection; how wonderful." It had to be mother effing Medusa to ruin my date and or kill me. Medusa pulled her sunglasses off and I closed my eyes tightly.

"What's wrong why you won't look me in the eye? I'm not as old as I used to be since Percy Jackson killed me. I was able to reform much younger." Her voice was so charming it was like you just wanted to do whatever it asked of you.

"Armony it's okay." Lucky sounded so calm it was kind of weird. I really hoped he wasn't doing as Medusa asked. "When I count to three open your eyes. Trust me." I'm not sure why but I decided to. "One…Two…Three!" Right before I opened my eyes I felt a sudden intense warmth like being under a ray of sunlight. I opened my eyes and was nearly blinded. In Lucky's hand was a ball of bright white light.

"Ah! You annoying little godlings!" Medusa screamed, her _hair_(I use that term loosely) hissed louder.

"Armony do you have anything to kill her with?" I looked at Lucky he was starting to sweat.

"No, I need sunlight for my arrows to work." I looked back at the ball of light and got an idea. "Lucky I need you to put your arms around me."

"What? Armony I'm all for that at some other time."

"Just do it." I moved to stand in front of Lucky. "Put your hands over mine." He did as I told him (he's so good at taking orders). Each cell in my body was alive with an electric current. "Move your arms with mine." The moment his hand closed over mine the light disappeared so I moved as quickly as I could. Pulling the string back an arrow was readied on my bow. I took aim at Medusa she was still closing her eyes tightly. I released the arrow and it made a bang, literally. It actually blew her up the minute it hit her head it exploded and for a few seconds it rained snakes that turned into dust (yeah it was gross). "Did we just kill Medusa?"

"Yes, yes we did."

**Back at camp**

"So this was fun." I said recapping our date. I actually had been really good despite the whole Medusa thing.

"Yeah it was lots of fun. We should do it again sometime." Lucky leaned in closer.

"Definitely." I moved in closer as well. I could feel his breath on my mouth and then I closed the distance between us. Those electric sparks were exciting. And he was one hell of a kisser. But as we continued to make out I got used to the sparks and…well it was good, really good, but something was missing. I pulled back and looked into Lucky's eyes. There was something lacking there too. "Uhm."

"Yeah." Lucky said feeling awkward too.

"That was nice?" I said it like a question. "I mean that was good."

"Did you feel like there is something missing?" He looked at me nervously like he thought he was going to offend me.

"Yeah, I mean it was really nice, I mean you're a really good kisser but it just feels…"

"Like were just friends." He finished for me.

"Exactly." He seemed relieved that I felt the same way and I was kind of too. "Friends?"

"Friends."

**The next day**

"So…how did the date go?" The dreaded question had been asked. I was hoping that I would be able to avoid it but alas. I was surrounded by Kayla, Lois, Clarisse and Annabeth and chances for escape were looking slim.

"It was fun lots of fun." I sighed. For real I actually sighed.

"Really?" Annabeth gave me a skeptical look.

"It really was we had a good time. The movie was bad but we made fun of it so that made up for it. Dinner was good and we talked and we killed Medusa."

"Wait what was that last part." Maybe I should have left that part out? Clarisse looked at me like she was about to hear something awesome.

"Oh, Medusa followed us and cornered us in an alley and I shot a light arrow into her head. It blew up." I said with very little enthusiasm, for some reason I just felt drained.

"Wait, how did you generate a light arrow at night?" I thought I had forgotten to explain something. Annabeth spotted the previously thought impossibility.

"Well, Lucky can generate light. I guess since his mom is goddess of the dawn he'd have some kind of ability that reflected that." Annabeth nodded and the others allowed me to finish recapping my date.

"After that we came back here and made out a little." Everyone's eyebrows shot up in interest.

"How was that?" Kayla asked like a middle aged woman looking for a vicarious thrill.

"He's a really good kisser but we decided to stay friends." That through them for a loop. Lois looked as confused as a cat with two mice within claw distance. Yeah…I feel weird using that analogy. "I don't know why but after I got past those electric tingle's there was just something missing."

"Electric tingles?" Lois asked.

"Yeah, every time Lucky and I touched I always felt and electric thrill. At first I thought that it was something more…but I guess I was wrong." Annabeth got that analytical look in her eye; that same look I had seen on every one of her siblings at least once before.

"Hmmm…You said that Lucky was able to generate light right?" I nodded. Then Annabeth began to _explain_ (another term I use loosely). "Well as Apollo's daughter you have the ability to loosely control light. I think since Lucky's and your powers are related your bodies are able to recognize the familiarity between you two in the symptom of electrical stimuli caused by physical contact."

"What?" Lois, Kayla and I said together.

"The electric tingles."

"Oh."

**July 4****th**

So it had been a few days since my date with Lucky so now I had nothing to distract me from my training…that is if Connor would wear a shirt (I'm not complaining, but it is distracting). Lucky and I had become pretty good friends since our date in fact he started training me in to learn how to control light, which sucks. Seriously you can't actually touch it instead "one has to find the frequency that light exists and then match your own energy frequency with that of the light in order to control it". After that I was ready for a break. And today we had the entire day off since it was the Fourth of July. Of course for some of the cabins this was actually twice the work than normal. Right now since I was the Apollo cabin counselor I was working on a set list for tonight after the fireworks and still having to order supplies for the field range and of course dealing with the constant comments of how I wasn't good enough for Lucky from Lilith.

But despite all that the day wasn't so bad, luckily, I had Connor helping me make the set list. It was actually harder than I thought to come up with songs for the campfire. So far I had ruled out a few songs but it was coming up with non-patriotic songs that was the problem. And for some reason Connor kept steering me toward romantic songs (which I had one in mind for trying to get Travis and Katie closer). But at the moment we were sitting in my cabin looking over song suggestions and sheet music (which Apollo kids don't need because we can play by ear, granted that we know how to play the instrument). Wait…then why do we have it?

"Hey Armony," I looked up from a sheet for _Taking Chances_, Connor looked a bit anxious for some reason. "I was wondering if you would like to watch the fireworks with me."

"Sure." I answered. Connor brightened up and smiled.

"Cool." We returned to business but for some reason he was giving me twice the suggestions of romantic songs than before.

The campers were going to view the fireworks from the beach so I sent Connor to get us a place early so we would have the best spot. I got ready for the beach by changing into a red spaghetti strap shirt and white shorts. But after I had finished I noticed that a lot of the girls were still in their cabins getting ready. But no skin off my nose. However I needed to talk to Travis before the fireworks started. I knocked on the Hermes cabin door and was greeted by my little brother.

"Max." I smiled looking down at his dirty blonde head. "Hey can you grab Travis for me I need to talk to him."

"Sure," He returned into the cabin. Something was wrong though he was acting more melancholy than is allowed for an eight year old boy. I hadn't hung out with Max since that quest. Travis appeared in the doorway. Before the only way that I could tell the difference between Connor and him before was because Travis was taller but now that I knew them both better it was kind of impossible for me to mix them up.

"What did you want Armony?" Travis asked me clearly curious. I couldn't help but smile. Though as by my nature as a girl I would love to play with him until he figured out what I was saying I had limited time.

"I know you like Katie so I'm going to help you out tonight at the bonfire." Travis eyes widened to saucers. Before he could speak I began with my plan. "Tonight I am going to sing a song that I think will be perfect for you and Katie to finally take an actual step into a relationship so when I give you this signal." I showed him a gesture where I lifted my open hand and turned it sideway with a gentle flick. "You will ask Katie to dance. Got it?" He nodded through his confusion but that was all I needed so I was ready to go. "Hey Max, would you like to come watch the fireworks with me?" I called into the cabin and Max was by the door in two seconds flat.

"Yeah." He answered. Connor wouldn't mind that I had Max with me.

/\\/\\/\\/\\

The beach was speckled with campers sitting in groups ready to watch the fireworks. Connor and I were sitting on a blanket with Max in front of us. Connor had packed a cooler full of snacks and drinks and had gotten us popcorn. I was eating some popcorn looking for the kernels that look kind of like brains. It's not that I didn't like them on the contrary I loved them because they always felt funny on my tongue so I made sure to eat them by themselves.

"Snow cone?" Connor asked me. He was gesturing a red snow cone toward me.

"Sure." I took the foam cup from him and ate some of it with a spoon. "Cherry?" I was surprised.

"Yeah, Isn't it your favorite?" He smiled like he already knew the answer. Well, he obviously did.

"It is. But how'd you know?" He just smiled slyly and gave a blue one to Max. This was really nice. Then I noticed that Connor had given his own snow cone to Max. "Here." I took some onto my spoon and offered it to him. He looked at me and at the spoon as if he was unsure but then he opened his mouth and ate it. I don't know why but the image of me feeding Connor made me blush. This was kind of like a date. Or at least I started to pretend it was. Then in perfect annoying little brother form Max yelled.

"Ew you guys kissed!"

"What? No we didn't" We yelled at the same time. Though I wished we had. My face grew way too hot.

"Yes you did, Marybeth told me that when you two people eat off of the same thing it's called an indirect kiss. She sees Annabeth and Percy do it all the time." Max proved his point. I was going to have a talk with Marybeth.

"Hey I was wondering, Max told me that you used to be bad at the violin." Connor looked interested so I figured why not and it made my illusion more date like.

"Max," I kicked him in the side. He was pretending that he wasn't listening.

"What, he was asking question, so I gave him answers." Max shrugged.

"What?" Did I hear right.

"Nothing." Connor said quickly.

"Yeah I used to be horrible at the violin one time the string actually split my finger nail because I didn't know how to play. One time I actually popped the string and it hit me in the face." God, for a while I really hated the violin but because I refused to sing (and mom wouldn't buy me another instrument) it was my only musical outlet. "See" I moved some of my hair away from my ear and showed Connor the scar that the string had given me right next to my ear. It was faint now but I could still feel the raised skin. As if to see if I was lying or not Connor but his finger to the scar and trailed his finger over it. My face blushed again but it felt nice.

Slowly the sun began to set and Kayla got up to sing the National Anthem. Will had told me that it was customary for the Apollo cabin counselor to sing but unlike me Kayla actually enjoyed the attention from singing in front of people so I gave it to her willingly. She sang it beautifully and after the final applaud the fireworks started.

To say that the fireworks were breathtaking was an insult to say that they were beautiful was an understatement. The most vibrant of colors would explode into hundreds of sparks and take the shape of Greeks myths: every hero from Atlanta, to well Percy was shown in the sky, and every creature from the Hekatonkheires to Nymphs and every god was shown beautifully in the sky. I leaned back on my arms so I wouldn't have to strain my neck. I second later Connor leaned back as well and though it was the smallest touch Connor's little finger settled over mine. And like the showers of light above me my heart felt as though it exploded on every beat. From that one small touch I felt warm and millions of butterflies decided to fly around in my stomach. That's when I realized Connor Stoll my heart.*

**Connor POV**

Yes! Armony was going to go with me to watch the fireworks. I was so excited I don't think anything could bring me down. She was going with me to the biggest dating event of the summer at Camp Half-Blood. I wanted to jump and yell or any combination of loud and slightly obnoxious actions. But I needed to get ready I wanted this to be perfect. So I headed toward the beach to set up a few bobby traps to keep the spot clear. After I had finished connecting the tripwire to the sand cannon I ran off toward the Mess Hall to get a few things.

I picked up a cooler, loaded with snacks and ran off toward the beach (again). As I approached I noticed the large piles of sand and the many miffed faces of some other guys. I walked over and finished setting up (ignoring the buried people). I finished ust in time to see Armony walking over…with Max. SHIT! Why would she bring Max? I mean don't get me wrong I like my little brother and all but…Wait does she know this is the biggest dating event of the summer. Something tells me no, she did not know. Fuck.

She and Max sat on the blanket with me Max sat in front of us so if I tried anything he wouldn't be able to see **(smirk)**. I handed a bag of popcorn to Armony and another to Max. It was kind of funny to watch them eat they both made sure to eat the ones shaped kind of like brains by themselves. Armony would put the brainy part on her tongue. Crap that is really cute. Then I decided to bring out my secret weapon the snow cones. Although now I had to give mine to Max.

Snow cone?" I asked her. I held the cup out to her; she looked confused.

"Sure." She took the cup from me and ate some of the red ice. "Cherry?" She looked surprised, in a very cute way. Gods I think I turned into a teenage girl.

"Yeah, Isn't it your favorite?" That was a hypothetical question. After the whole 'Nerds' misunderstanding I did some digging from Max and found out that Armony's favorite flavor is cherry, favorite color red, favorite flower Lilacs, favorite movie is Hoot, and that she used to be horrible at the violin (I don't get how that one happened).

"It is. But how'd you know?" He just smiled slyly and gave a blue one to Max. This was really nice. Then I noticed that Connor had given his own snow cone to Max. "Here." She held out her spoon with some of the 'snow' on it. At first I wasn't really sure that this was actually happening but it was. I opened my mouth and she fed it to me. Then she blushed. I think I was becoming addicted to those.

"Ew you guys kissed!" Max yelled.

"What? No we didn't" We yelled at the same time. Though I wished we had. Armony grew turned bright red. This situation would've been funny if it hadn't happened to Armony and me.

"Yes you did, Marybeth told me that when you two people eat off of the same thing it's called an indirect kiss. She sees Annabeth and Percy do it all the time." Max went on to show that he was right. I guess technically he was. But now I actually want to kiss her. Anyway…

"Hey I was wondering, Max told me that you used to be bad at the violin." Armony looked at me; back to her normal color.

"Max," She shoved Max with her foot but he had already gone back to his own business.

"What, he was asking question, so I gave him answers." Max shrugged.

"What?" Armony asked.

"Nothing." Armony explained despite the other stuff.

"Yeah I used to be horrible at the violin one time the string actually split my finger nail because I didn't know how to play. One time I actually popped the string and it hit me in the face. See" She pulled her hair back and showed me a faint scar on left side of her face next to her ear. It was so small I could barely tell it was there. So I touched it; it felt raised like a scar but it also felt really warm…then I noticed how Armony was changing color again.

It started to get darker to so the fireworks were going to start soon. This was going to be the first time I had seen the fireworks in years the last four times Chiron had sentenced Travis and I to something that made us miss them. Kayla got up and sang the National Anthem of course it would have been better if Armony had sung it. Then the fireworks started they were still just as breathtaking as before. I turned to see Armony looking up at the sky in awe. Her eyes reflect the showers and patterns of light and the colors danced across her skin. She looked beautiful. But she almost caught me staring so I turned my head back to the sky. After a while my neck started to feel stiff so leaned back on my hands and my little finger covered Armony's. At first I thought about moving it but she seemed too transfixed on the fireworks to notice so I kept it there.

We all retreated back to the camp for the bonfire. Armony sat next to her brother and sister and they began the music. Will started first and then Michael and Armony did what she did every time before she sang in front of people she bit the left corner of her bottom lip and then began.

**Armony POV**

Why did I have to fall in love with my friend? I swore that I would never try to date my friends ever again after Tim. But Connor _isn't_ Tim. He's better…and he deserves better. He deserves someone who isn't so shallow, someone who isn't afraid to be center of attention, someone who's beautiful inside and out, someone who doesn't have an inferiority complex due to daddy issues. And that's not me. But now isn't the time for that now is the time for Katie's love life. Everyone gathered around the campfire…in two's. Okay so it was a good thing that most of the songs are romantic.

I still didn't like singing in front of people but once I got past the screaming sense of fear it was a real rush. And here I didn't need to worry about being accepted since everyone had already. Well, let's get this party started…and Katie's love life. I cued Will and he started playing. When it was time Michael started hitting cymbal. Then it was time to sing.

_Kiss me out of the bearded barley_

_Nightly, beside the green, green grass_

_Swing, swing, swing the spinning step_

_You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress._

_Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight_

_Lead me out on the moonlit floor_

_Lift your open hand_

I gave Travis his signal and he chickened out! I know it too he saw me gesture and then pretended like it didn't happen but this song repeats the chorus.

_Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance_

_Silver moon sparkling_

_So kiss me_

_Kiss me down by the broken tree house_

_Swing me upon its hanging tire_

_Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat_

_We'll take the trail marked on your father's map_

_Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight_

_Lead me out on the moonlit floor_

_Lift your open hand_

I tried one more time and Travis did it he walked over to Katie and with a little hesitation she stood up with him and they danced. OH MY GODS it was soooo cute!

_Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance_

_Silver moon sparkling_

_So kiss me_

Seeing them dance together was like a fairytale. It was really beautiful and sweet. I looked over toward Connor who was watching his brother like he was waiting for Travis to pull a prank and since all eyes were on Travis and Katie I decided to sing to Connor (he wouldn't notice).

_Kiss me beneath the milky twilight_

_Lead me out on the moonlit floor_

_Lift your open hand_

_Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance_

_Silver moon sparkling_

_So kiss me_

Connor

**Connor POV**

I can't believe it, Travis and Katie. How did I not see that? But I guess it could have been worse it could have been Lilith. They danced and I guess it was…nice? I just watched as he twirled her and they smiled at each other as Armony sang. I wanted that. I wanted to do what the song said so why couldn't she sing it to me. Cause I would.

**That little "Stoll my heart" totally goes to O'Liathon for coming up with it I just borrowed it without his permission. Please don't yell at me!**

**Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer.**

**Also I wanted to get this chapter online before spring break which I did, so next week I will totally not be writing any chapters because I will be too busy partying.**

**I do not support or condone underage drinking.**


	16. Chapter 16

**I hope you like Glee, I do, cause Glee references.**

**And I'm sorry for the large typo in the last chapter I forgot to add Max's dialogue with the indirect kiss. I wrote that part on Connor's POV so when I went through it I copy and pasted the dialogue I missed it.**

**Also I got an iPhone 4 so awesome…then I had to give it to my older brother.**

**This chapter we have dancing. So for the dancing scene the description afterwards goes with lyrics from above it. I wrote the dancing with the song so listen to it and read along with it. I think it matches.**

**Anyway**

**Please read, review, and enjoy.**

_Ch.16 Calm before the Storm_

"So Armony what are you going to sing tonight?" Kayla asked me. We were getting the instruments for the sing-along tonight.

"Uhm…I have no idea." Normally I just took requests. It was a lot easier not to get booed off stage if you sang what the crowd wanted.

"You know the best way to make a song great is if you sing what you feel and it matches the message the song is trying to convey." Kayla picked up her pink guitar. If her hair were curly she would be a dead ringer for Taylor Swift.

"Kayla you sound like an episode of Glee."

"I like Glee." Kayla looked down like I was making fun of her.

"Me too!" I yelled, finally someone else who admitted out loud that they like Glee. For some reason most people I knew had it as a guilty pleasure. They were so in the closet. "Could you believe that Quinn had the baby right after they performed?"

"I know right! But I had a feeling you know."

**Kayla POV**

Armony is nice but she is way too shy for her own good. A child of Apollo with stage fright; that is not natural, of course the bigger the stage fright the bigger the rush. If she wasn't careful she'd get addicted. I was a bit jealous that my 'stage' was stolen from me but something wasn't normal about Armony. I had tried to teach her to play several instruments and yet she sucked at each one. Her ability to play the violin is only as strong as it is because of the years she went without any other musical outlet. I watched her get in front of the crowd ready to sing. She shot a 'covert' look at Connor. Seriously the crush was incredibly obvious but I don't think she even knew how she felt until recently. Those Fourth of July fireworks work miracles. Armony signaled me so I started playing my guitar. And after one more 'secret' look at Connor…

"_I'm tugging at my hair_

_I'm pulling at my clothes_

_I'm trying to keep my cool_

_I know it shows_

_I'm staring at my feet_

_My cheeks are turning red_

_I'm searching for the words inside my head_

I have to give Armony her props for choosing a song to express her feelings. Cause it's kind of obvious.

_I'm feeling nervous_

_Trying to be so perfect_

_Cause I know you're worth it_

_You're worth it_

_Yeah_

_If I could say what I want to say_

_I'd say I wanna blow you... away_

_Be with you every night_

_Am I squeezing you too tight_

_If I could say what I want to see_

_I want to see you go down_

_On one knee_

_Marry me today_

_Guess, I'm wishing my life away_

_With these things I'll never say_

Although if this song accurately expresses Armony's feeling as well as I think it does, she isn't going to do Jack about her crush on Connor except pine. That is not acceptable. However if I am going to be involved in this it's going to be under my most awesome circumstances. Armony, isn't the only one to control situations to hook two people up; it's an Apollo's kid thing. And luckily I had the perfect chance to put my plan into action after all Chiron loves me and can't resist my puppy dog eyes. And I guess a little magic wouldn't hurt either; now where is Ling?

**Armony POV**

"We're having a dance?" I was shocked. I mean a dance just seemed way too normal for Camp Half-blood.

"Yes, we are having a dance in the Mess Hall." Chiron answered. "And so I called in the cabin counselors to set up a committee to help plan and run the dance." I know he said it but I still can't believe it besides Chiron looks incredibly unhappy at the idea.

"So who are the committee members?" Lois gushed eyes sparkling, like for real, that wasn't a metaphor.

"Lois, Katie, Annabeth, Armony, Cassidy (daughter of Iris), Castor, Percy and Travis." Chiron announced the members. Honestly I wasn't psyched I still had to finish the Archery field and come up with set lists for the sing-a-longs. Connor chuckled when Travis was named as a part of the committee. "Oh Connor I didn't know you wanted to be on the committee to. You and Travis can switch than." Chiron began writing the change on a clipboard while Travis laughed. Then I started fantasizing slowdancing with Connor on the dance floor his hands on my hips as we swayed to the music and just as it ends he leans in and we ki- Whoa Armony slow down! I stop my fantasy before I get any more love sick. "So I will leave it to you to come up with a theme and begin to plan. You have a week." Than Chiron ran out of the room. Seriously? One week to organize a dance…wait we have Annabeth okay there goes the worries.

"No we are not making it a chess themed dance!" Lois yelled at Annabeth.

"What is wrong with Chess?" Annabeth yelled back. And here comes the worries.

"It's boring as hell that's what!" Lois rebuttled. She began to get in Annabeth grill and started doing that head twitch 'I'm head bitch' move. She meant business.

"It's only boring when your too stupid to know how to play it." Percy got in between the two girls which was a bad idea since both of them took a step forward and Percy had his hands outstretched to his sides to prevent them from getting to eachother. Yeah, he felt them up. Lois' face turned scarlet and so did Annabeth's but I don't think hers was from embarrassment.

"I think we should have a Toga Party!" Castor yelled.

"No!" Lois, Annabeth, Katie, Cassidy and I yelled.

"Do we actually have to have a theme?" Connor asked. All attention was on him. "I mean can't we just decorate with flowers and lights and streamers and just leave it like that." It was probably the crush on him that I have but I was starting to agree.

"I think he's right." No the attention was on me…great. "Themes are always just made to make decorating easier and if we decorate in a generic way than we don't have to create any extra decorations." A few of them started to consider is but…

"But we still need a color scheme." Annabeth stated the overlooked idea.

"I like blue." Percy stated, gaining a groan from us and a "We know." Seriously dude we know you like blue it's pretty obvious from your wardrobe. Course it does look good on him but still.

"Don't worry I got this." Cassidy stood up. "When it comes to color schemes you have no better than me. I'll come up with something positive, yet mysterious; party-tastic, but slow dance formal." She was so confident that there was no way that I could argue, besides that meant less work to do.

"Alright since Cassidy will take care of decorations Lois and Katie should help her as well. Since Katie can create floral arrangements and Lois is not going to let anything other than perfect get past her."

"Uh, who died and made you Cassiopeia." Lois said one hand on her hip and the other about to snap.

"Lois," I grabbed her hand before she snapped. "When a daughter of Athena starts organizing is it really good to interfere with that?" Lois looked up; I assume thinking about my question.

"Armony, you and Castor should take care of music. Percy and I will deal with equipment. Connor…" Annabeth looked at him than at me, and then smiled creepily. She is too smart sometimes. "Do whatever Armony asks you to do." Never mind she is 100% pure genius. "Alright now while Lois is still distracted, break!" And we ran.

**Kayla POV**

Who's awesome? I'm awesome. A dance, one of my greatest ideas; I get to have some fun and if all goes according to plan Armony and Connor will be making kissy face by the end of the night. But as I walked over to my cabin I saw the one thing that could make my entire plan fall apart, like a house of cards. Connor dancing. Seriously flailing one limbs while music just happens to be playing is not music it is….an abomination. I kicked in the door to the Hermes' cabin; now it had my boot print on it.

"Kayla! W-what-" I cut him off.

"Oh hail naw! You best not be tellin' me that how you be dancin'!" I didn't give him time to answer since I already knew that it was. "Oh my gods Connor I am teaching you to dance right now there is no way that I am letting you get away with that." I grabbed his stereo and took out the CD he had and replaced it with one of my own. Yes, I do carry CD's with me at all times.

"Hey!" Connor yelled. I held up my hand to shut him up. I switched the track to number five; **Stereo Love**.

"If you want to impress Armony you will do it on the dance floor." That got his attention. "Because of Armony's Latina heritage her dancing style comes from her hips. She lets the rest of her body follow her hips." I moved my hips to show him. Connor nodded in understanding. Yes, I am a great dance instructor…although most of my students end up with hip dysplasia...Anyway. "Since you're a guy and whiter than sour cream, you dancing from your hips would look awkward as all hell. So let your moves come from your chest and stomach. Chest straight, stomach transition and let everything else follow." I demonstrated feeling very manly. "Now you try." He did… "We might be here a while."

**Two days later**

"Now couple dancing is a bit different. Since it will take both styles of dancing and try to meld it into one you need to get a feel for your partner first." Then he got all dreamy eyes. So I started slapping him. "Ew! No, I don't mean that you can _feel her up."_ I motioned him to stand up. "Hands on my hips." He did as I commanded. "Now I know what people say about the guy leading which is true in already established dances however since this is just recreational random stuff let her set the pace for the dance." He nodded. He had actually turned out to be a good student. He realized early on that I only let someone talk when I actually want to hear what they say. "After she sets the pace catch up and begin to set a more dominate role." I began dancing and he did just as I said…except since he did what I told him to do that doesn't actually make what he did dominant. "Good now you can lead the dance but you need to be subtle about it."

"Hey Connor I was wonder-" Armony walked into the cabin and froze when she saw me and Connor. "O-oh um I-I'll um…" She was starting to tear up but before anything obvious happened she walked out of the cabin.

"Armony!" Connor called after her but to no avail.

"Stay here." I ordered. "I got this." Luckily she didn't get too far. "Armony!"

"W-what…" Armony asked wiping her eyes.

"You have no idea how badly I have been busting my butt to get Connor ready for the dance." I put my arm around her. "When I first saw him dance I thought that he had a stick stuck up his butt, someone cut one of his Achilles tendons and was hanging him up like a puppet. He was sooooooooooooo bad. However because of that I never had a chance to ask Malcolm to the dance so I was wondering if you know if he is going with anybody." She instantly brightened up.

"No, I don't think he's asked anyone yet so you should probably get on that." She smiled clearly happy.

"I will." So I left to go find my future Sugar Daddy.

**[Time for the Dance]**

**Armony POV**

It was beautiful. Katie had outdone herself with all of the flowers and color coordinated by Cassidy it was like the fireworks had been frozen transformed into flowers and placed on the ceiling. And it smelled floral and so pretty, thank the gods I don't have allergies…well except to shellfish. I had decided to wear a light blue dress that I had bought on Easter. With my make up done by Lois and my hair as well I was looking pretty good, if I do say so myself. Quickly the Mess hall filled with more and more campers each dressed and ready to party. Max ran in with Marybeth and Tyson each of them was dressed in a toga…yeah, I would get Castor for that. Katie wore a beautiful long green dress and a light green shawl she looked so womanly. Travis was with her in a dark green shirt, black jacket and pants. Percy and Annabeth were both in blue Percy looked good but nobody could not look at Annabeth; her hair was an updo and she looked like a queen. Nico looked like usual him…in black; black button down, black pants and a black tie. But Lois was his polar opposite she was dressed in blinding white with a deep purple sash tied around her waist which matched her now purple eyes. Then I saw Connor and my heart stopped. He wore a red button down shirt with a black vest and back pants and his hair was slicked back revealing his gorgeous eyes. He looked just like a model. And other people were there too…but I kind of lost track after him.

Every camper was in the Mess hall and chatting happily. I caught Connor eye and walked over to him when…"Armony, Chiron needs to talk to you." Thank you Katie, you have horrible timing. Katie led me away from Connor to Chiron who was also dressed up. Kayla was next to him in a red cocktail dress.

"Yes, Chiron?"

"Armony, we can't find the music that you had planned for tonight." Chiron spoke solemnly, like he really didn't want to be dealing with this.

"What I left it here just an hour ago." Okay technically it had been two hours but…

"Well the only things that we have found were these for karaoke." Chiron picked up a case labeled 'Karaoke'.

"Hey is the music gonna start soon we wanna get this party started!" Someone yelled from the crowd. Thanks random dude, no pressure or anything.

"Armony could do it." Kayla blurted out.

"What?" I yelled back.

"You could sing. It would be just until we can find the other music." Now Chiron was supporting this crazy idea.

"We wanna Dance, We wanna Party!" The crowd started up a chant. Great, just great.

"Fine…" I relented.

"Good!" Kayla gave me a very sneaky looking grin and whisked me off to change. She said something about not being able to perform in a dress unless your Taylor Swift…or maybe she said something else I was too busy regretting my decision to actually listen.

So now I was dressed in a stone grey top that had gold chains over the front that jingled every time I moved and the 'piece de resistance' **(read that with a French accent)** skinny jeans. I was wearing MOTHER FUCKING SKINNY JEANS! "Kayla I will kill you for making me wear these."

"Oh come one Armony, you look hot. And you actually have an ass to fill them with." Kayla began to drag me to 'the stage' (tables put together). I stood on the stage and I looked out at all the people all their eyes on me and I squeaked. My heart beats turned hard and fast, my body felt clammy and too hot. My breathing turned shallow the adrenaline pumped through my viens encouraging me to run as fast as I can. I was about to run off but Kayla blocked my escape. She handed me the microphone. "Don't worry Armony just relax and think of Connor." Connor, instantly my eyes found him in the crowd he was smiling. Connor was the first person I had ever performed a solo for and I could do it for him. Then the music started. I knew this song and thinking of Connor turned my face as red as it would go. But I had to sing.

"_You make me feel like I'm losing my virginity_

_The first time, every time when you touch me_

_I make you bloom like a flower that you never seen_

_Under the sun we are one buzzing energy"_

I stood there standing like a statue singing on of the most embarrassing songs ever. But I looked out at Connor and his eyes were on me and…if I was going to do this than I was going to make it good. This is for you Connor.

_Let's pollinate to create a family tree_

_This evolution with you comes naturally_

_Some call it science, we call it chemistry_

_This is the story of the birds and the bees_

_Even the seasons change_

_Our love still stays the same_

_You give me the hummingbird heartbeat_

_Spread my wings and make me fly_

_The taste of your honey is so sweet_

_When you give me the hummingbird heartbeat_

_Hummingbird heartbeat_

**Kayla POV**

Oh yeah I am awesome. Armony is singing her heart out for Connor and Connor is watching like a love sick puppy. But If I want this plan to work Armony is going to have to sing for a lot longer than that. Her and Connor's fated song has to be the last song that way Armony would be consumed by her love for Connor and her 'high' from the concert would make her more susceptible to his influence and Connor would be ready to make his move since he would only have one chance left.

**[Last Song]**

**Armony POV**

I sang the entire night…I sang the entire night! I have never felt so alive. It was completely perfect. The cheering the dancing, just everything, it was all….AH! I wanted to scream, to dance, to due incredibly annoying and intrusive and distracting things. I thought everything was perfect but as I got off the stage (since they had found the music for the night) I saw Connor watching me and I knew there was one more thing that I needed to make this night truly the best night of my life. I needed him. I knew I couldn't have him but I could pretend at least for a few minutes that I had him. That, that would make this night perfect.

I had sung pretty much the whole night I couldn't waste time changing so even though I was wearing, skinny jeans, I had to try. I could do it though, if I could actually sing what is basically the equivalent of a concert than I could do this.

"Armony that was great, you were amazing." Connor saw me walking over to him and stated to congratulate me. Sometimes when people started giving me praise it would make me uncomfortable but whenever it came from Connor I believed it. "You are amazing." I couldn't help but smile with how happy I was.

"Connor would like to dance with?" Connor looked taken aback but he smiled too.

"Yeah," He was about to say mire but I cut him off.

"I'm not going to let those Dancing Lessons go to waste." I grabbed his hand, which caused my cheeks to heat up and I led him to the dance floor. Percy jumped onto the stage he was slightly sweaty and some of his hair was sticking to his head. But on closer inspection I could see his lips were extra rosy, something told me that he and Annabeth were doing more than dancing.

"Alright everybody let's give a big hand to Armony for keeping the party going." A roar of applause thundered through the Mess Hall. I could still feel my cheeks redden but it felt silly after what I just did. "Now we don't have much time left so here is our last song. Now don't get mad with whatever it is since we have the songs on shuffle. So…" Castor got up and stole the mic from Percy's hand.

"Lets finish this off with a bang!" Castor yelled into the mic. When the order comes from the son of the god of wild parties you kind of have to follow it. I grabbed Connor's hand and one of my favorite songs started to play. Hey that rhymed.

_Now listen to me baby_

_Before I love and leave you_

_They call me heart breaker_

_I don't wanna deceive you_

It started out easy. Connor's hands on my hips mine on his shoulders so far it was just us moving to the music.

_If you fall for me_

_I'm not easy to please_

_I'm might tear you apart_

_Told you from the start, baby, from the start_

Then it slowed down like both are bodies moved together.

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

Then he took one of my hands and spun me. When I finished the spin I let danced on my own letting him watch as I twisted and moved my hips.

_There's no point trying to hide it_

_No point trying to evade it_

_I know I got a problem_

_Problem with misbehavin'_

I twirled back next to Connor and we repeated like how we started. His hands on my hips but I couldn't resist so I started to entwine his curls between my fingers.

_If you fall for me_

_I'm not easy to please_

_I might tear you apart_

_Told you from the start, baby from the start_

Connor slid his hands up my from my hips right next to my ribs and moved them down slowly back to the start leaving trails of heat.

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

I broke away from Connor reluctantly but at the same time I felt thrilled to know that he was watching me and only me as I moved.

_And I know karma's gonna get me back for being so cold_

_Like a big bad wolf, I'm born to be bad and bad to the bone_

_If you fall for me, I'm only gonna tear you apart_

_Told you from the start_

We were as we had begun but there was no space between us. Then Connor began to move his entire body in this wave motion that resulted in his hips hitting mine. HOLY SHIT!

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

Like before Connor twirled me but he didn't let me go he twirled me back until my back was against his chest. He grabbed my other hand, fingers laced. I moved my head to the side breathing hard but what Connor did next made me gasp in a very good way. He didn't exactly kiss my neck but dragged his lips across the expanse of my neck from shoulder to right below my earlobe. It was only the lightest feeling but I know I felt his lips pucker and kiss me.

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

_I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart_

He twirled me from our position one last time but the smile on his face is what sealed the deal. I had to do it. I couldn't go my life without trying. I kissed Connor as hard as I could. I grabbed him and pulled him down to my height. It felt like the world had gone and decided to explode. It was the best kiss I had ever had. Even better than that one with Annabeth. But as I pulled myself from him all I saw was the shock on his face. It broke my heart to seen him look like that right after I had… I ran as fast as I could I pushed past all of the campers and just ran. I didn't stop until I reached my cabin. I didn't want to hear, I didn't want to see, hell I didn't want to be conscious. I grabbed my iPod from my stuff and turned the volume up as loud as I dared. I took my clothes off and went to bed. That night I had a nightmare that wouldn't stop playing. I dreamed I performed but I was 'booed', I danced but I step on Connor's feet and I kissed him and he ran off disgust.

**Songs Break Your Heart by Taio Cruz, Hummingbird Heartbeat by Katy Perry, an Things I'll never say by Avril Lavinge**


	17. Chapter 17

**This is either the climbing action or the Climax I'm not sure…**

**Anyway I took out the sex cause it seemed very artificial. Like it was happening too soon and It seemed wrong so…**

**Okay did anyone see that new trailer for that movie Immortals with Theseus in it? And did you see the bow? I have no idea whether that is an actual part of a myth or not but I made Armony's bow way before I had seen that. So damn….I am not sure what to think.**

**Also the entire chapter is a kind of a pun.**

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

_Ch.17 __Feliz cumpleaños_

**Lilith POV**

In the words of Bowling For Soup; "Today was going to be a great day."

**Connor POV**

She kissed me. Armony freaking kissed me…and ran off? What the hell? She looked so scared. The entire time during her songs I just couldn't wait until I could get her next to me and…UGH. I did everything that Kayla said so why the hell did she run off? Shit. I need to find her.

"Connor and Travis Stoll!" Chiron yelled and instantly I knew I was staying behind to clean up. "The punch bowl has been spiked!" It wasn't even us this time.

**Kayla POV**

That little idiot just had to run away after the freaking dance! I can't have that everything was going perfect. At least the night was fruitful for me. I walked back to the cabin with my armed looped around Malcolm's. I stood at the doorway and looked into his intense grey eyes. His were always the most passionate eyes out of the Athena cabin kids. Annabeth's were strong and a few of the others were powerful or fixated on certain things but Malcolm I know that there was something hidden behind his control freak exterior. I had only seen it once but that one time was all I needed to go completely gaga over him.

"Thanks for the dance, Kayla." Malcolm spoke and I could only stare at his lips.

"Oh, well your welcome." _"Kiss me already you damn fool!"_

"No, I mean really, thanks. I know that you are the one that got Chiron to agree to it." Oh, well that was a different matter. I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out since someone was already kissing me. _"Smiley Face!"_

After a harpy screeched in the distance I realized that it would be best if Malcolm went back to his cabin, after all I don't want him to be eaten. I smiled as he pulled away and revealed my lipstick on his mouth. I decided not to say anything, make it a story to tell the other guys _"Mischievous Face."_ I walked into the cabin to see Armony lying on her bed with her ear buds in her ears and iPod on full blast. I was about to shake her vigorously when I noticed the tears stains down her face then I looked at the clock. Two o'clock…there would be time for me to explain in the morning.

**Armony POV**

I didn't want to wake up but I knew I had too. Why did I have to kiss him? Why did I have to sing in front of so many people? And why did I wear GOD DAMN SKINNY JEANS? Fine I had fallen in love with Connor and Aphrodite knows he is the only guy that I have ever liked that didn't turn out to be a complete ass. But every time I thought back to his face my heart broke more and more into little shards that I am pretty sure punctured my lungs because it was hard to breathe.

Maybe I could lie to him. Maybe he would believe that it was just the heat of the moment and that it meant nothing. No, I'm a crappy liar and besides if he believed that than…UGH! Why did it have to be today! I pulled the covers off over my head and looked at the alarm clock by my bed (counselor perk). It was six in the morning. You think I could sleep in after last night. Of course not…but I didn't want to be in the cabin so I dressed as quickly and quietly as I could and I made a break for it. Running was something I could contend with there is no thinking involved but flying now that was something that you could get lost in.

"Snowday, I need a favor." I approached the dazzling white Pegasus. She looked at me and I swear she frowned. "I just need to fly. I need to be up there where everything looks small. Please." She turned her head to the side, studying me and nodded.

"_Alright, but Armony flying is a way to gather perspective and feel true freedom it is not a way to escape responsibility and fear."_ I did not need the Yoda lessons.

"Thank you." I answered and crawled onto her back. It was hours before anyone noticed me…that was a bittersweet thought. But after so many hours my butt began to hurt and I had forgotten why I had gone flying in the first place. Stupid me. Back on the ground about twenty feet away from me was Connor. He was gorgeous and the just the sight of him made my heart beat faster in a great, and not so great, way. He turned my way and I desperately tried to hide behind a tree. I could feel fresh tears brim as the memory of his face forced it way to the forefront of my mind. I closed my eyes and wished with all my might that I would turn invisible or that a friendly meteorite would take pity on me and crash into the earth at ungodly speeds. But what I felt next was not the sweet relief of…well anything; it was a warm mouth on mine. I opened my eyes in surprise to see Connor. I jumped back forgetting that there was a tree behind me and instantly felt pain blossom at the back of my head. Despite my jump back Connor's lips were still on mine and I felt him smirk.

"Didn't know I would have that effect." Connor pulled back barely…I kind of liked it.

"Connor…uh, what are you doing?" Really, love struck me? I think you know what he was doing. Kissing ME! Although, I was still very confused.

"I think," Connor gave me a soft kiss on the mouth. "I'm kissing my girlfriend." Girlfriend? Hell yeah! Too bad I had to blush and ruin the moment.

"I-I thought you didn't l-like me like that." I stuttered out.

"Than I guess that means you were wrong." He placed one hand against the tree, leaned over me and smiled. Man, did that do very fluttery things to my stomach. That is when I had a serious talk with myself; shut up and allow this! So, I did. I could feel my lips curve as I looked at him and thought "_Wow, he is mine_."

**Connor POV**

Yes, yes, yes, HELL FUCKING YES! Finally I got my kiss with Armony. After Kayla had stopped by the Maze to explain everything, which she should have done in the first place; I mean seriously, if she had just told me that Armony liked me we would have gone to the dance together and the whole running off thing wouldn't have happened. Why do Apollo kids always have to try and set people up to where it's like something in a movie? Whatever, I guess the dancing lessons paid off. So Armony and I were just leaning against my now favorite tree making out.

"Connor!" I turned around to see Travis yelling at me impatiently. "You said you'd be back in five minutes not an hour." Thank you, mom. Seriously, I put up with him and Katie sneaking off all the time and he can't give me a few hours?

"It's okay." Armony said. She looked up at me with a reddish tint to her cheeks. "Just meet where I gave you that concert at seven. It'll be our first date."

"Really?" I asked. Something in her voice told me that this date was going to be fun. "And what are we going to be doing on our date?"

"Well more of this." She kissed me hard making my head spin. She is really good at that. "And maybe more if you're lucky." Whether she was serious or not I will never know because before I had time to 'interrogate' her more Travis dragged me off. When Travis and I were back toward the Maze I was ready to start yelling. "Travis what the Hades?" I turned my brother around but he was…zombiefied.

"Took him long enough to find you." Lilith walked up to me and Travis from behind a tree. "Good minions are so hard to find these days." Lilith talked nonchalantly. I reached for the sword at my side (ever since the Minotaur got into the barrier Chiron had decided we all needed to have weapons on us at all times); every instinct was telling me that Lilith was dangerous.

"What did you do to him?" I drew my sword.

"Simmer down. _Velas._" I blue flame erupted from the tip of her finger and engulfed her hand. With a flick of her wrist the flame split into five fire wolves. I recognized them easily. "And don't worry too much about your brother the little potion I used will wear off soon enough."

"You, you were the one who let the minotaur in."

"Look who's so smart. _Vacras increveh._" Before I knew it tree roots shot from the ground and tied me up. Lilith did that weird little witch hand sign and moved her wrist downward. The roots echoed her movement and moved back into the ground; pulling me down. "You're little bitch was able to break the spell that I had cast on my harem and to put it blatantly that pissed me off. So now I'm going to break her heart."

The roots reached up to my face and opened my mouth. I fought but my jaw was kept open. Lilith reached for a little vial on her belt. She pulled it up and the yellow liquid glowed in the sunlight. She pulled the cork out of the opening. "Well technically," Lilith's mouth twisted into a smile that I know haunted the dreams of little kids. "You are."

**Armony POV**

I was incredibly happy today; very, very happy. I don't think anything could get me down. I could feel the goofy smile on my face. I walked to the archery field ready to start shooting some arrows into a target when Annabeth walking by took notice of my grin.

"Someone looks happy." Annabeth rose one eyebrow waiting for an explanation.

"That would be because I am." Then I started to explain a bit…or a lot. Annabeth placed her hand over my mouth.

"Okay, okay, I get it you and Connor finally started dating." I looked down, a little embarrassed at love struck me when I noticed her knife which reminded me of…

"Oh, have you seen Max?" She seemed a bit taken aback by the abrupt change in topic but answered anyway.

"Yeah, I saw him by Arts and Crafts."

"Thanks I gotta go find him." I waved by and went to find my little brother. After a walk that took a little longer than needed (damn you Grover and your insane need to drive wooden animals around with your pan flute). The sound of metal clinking and clanking was my first cue that I was there. I looked around to see Tyson hammering at something and Max next him using whatever that squishy thing that blows out air is called.

"Max!" I yelled. He and Tyson jumped like someone had electrocuted them. Max turned around quickly and Tyson moved so he was covering whatever he was working on. "Come here." I motioned for him to hurry up. He looked behind him and made his way toward me hesitantly."

"Hi Armony." He said rudely. "What do you want?" I have to admit I was little hurt by that.

"Well I was wondering if you wanted to hang out for a little while." Normally Max would definitely have said yes. He looked back at Tyson.

"No, I don't." If Max hadn't wanted to hang out I guess I would have understood him but the way he said it was just hurtful. "I gotta go, bye." He ran back to Tyson and resumed using that weird thingy. I walked away a little out of it. Why had he been acting so mean? Needing a distraction I decided that then was the perfect time to get some supplies for my date with Connor. Already I could feel myself smile as I thought about tonight.

/\/\/\/\/\

I was so consumed by my little adventure that I was late for my date. I had bought a picnic box and some food from the camp store. A picnic, I know a little cliché, but I realized I was in love with him on a picnic so I felt that it was fitting. I walked through the woods to get to the pond. I had changed into a light blue dress that matched my eyes that mom had bought for me before we left for New York. She had told me that I might as well get a little New York style flirting down while we were there, needless to say that never happened…or will it? Of course walking in the woods with a picnic basket and in a dress it not exactly easy…good thing I wasn't wearing red and trying to see my grandma. Although, with the recent training I would probably be able to break that wolf's neck (thank you Clarisse). But as I started to go past the scars from the Battle of the Labyrinth I heard noises. Noises that I recognized cause Connor and I had been making the same kind of sounds. I hid behind a tree for the second time that day and tried to make a descision. Do I shoe them away, do I wait for them to leave, do I wait for Connor, do I leave and try to find Connor before he heads this way, or do I….

"Lilith…" I knew that voice. My heart sunk I could feel my heart cramp. I prayed that it wasn't him. And again I was faced with another decision, should I look and know or stay hidden and pretend I never heard it. I hoped against so many odds and looked. I thought that the pain from being cheated on once was the worst but this was like having my insides ripped out and burned in front of me. Connor held Lilith up against a tree, her legs wrapped around his waist, and he was kissing her neck. I wanted to run I wanted to hide but I was frozen.

"So you really told her that she was your girlfriend?" Lilith asked and tears started to spill over. She started to nibble on his ear and then he detached himself from her neck.

"Of course, and then the little slut let me make out with her more. She even planned a date for us here."

"Poor desperate girl." Lilith pushed Connor back a bit and she got on her feet. "Let's go." She grabbed Connor's hand and they left.

**Lilith POV**

I couldn't help but smile. Take that you little whore. I kept pulling Connor with me. I looked back and made sure that she wasn't following us. I am sooo good. I almost started laughing when I whispered in Connor's ear. "Say; "course, and then the little slut let me make out with her more. She even planned a date for us here."" That was hilarious the way she tried to hide her sobs. Now that was music.

"Her sadness has got me all frisky." I looked at my twelve hour slave. He was cute with a body that could melt a glacier. I could force him to relieve me but there is no passion in this state. It was why I was so pissed. Combining two spells is like walking on a very thin razor sharp wire. I'm good but even for me it's still a lot of work, and I finally create the perfect spell to have it mucked up but now, now I was great. Which brought me back to my harem. I thought back to my fateful servants and thought of Tom. He was a part of my harem and I didn't even need to use a spell. I looked back at Connor.

"Sit here and be quiet until the spell wears off." Time to go find some fun.

**Armony POV**

I wanted to be angry I wanted to turn back time, but none of that was possible I was too busy crying. I was too busy having my heart broken into pieces. I should have accepted Artemis' deal and become a hunter. I tried to comfort myself thinking back to the time Tim cheated on me and all the advise my mom had given me; which made it worse. Where was she when I needed her? Where was Max, yelling about how he was going to pull a prank on the guy. Why was I alone? I pulled myself to the pond and threw the picnic basket into the water. I watched as the water rippled and splashed until it settled back into a liquid mirror. I looked at my reflection, red eyes, messed up hair and make-up. But at least it seemed like I wasn't completely alone. I didn't know what to do so I sang.

_Happy Birthday to you_

I pictured more than just me, I pictured my mom, my dad, Max, all the friends that I thought I had made here around me. I saw them singing to me.

_Happy Birthday to you_

Connor was with me he was holding my hand; gripping it tight, smiling at me.

_Happy Birthday dear Armony_

I blew out the candles on my birthday cake, and for the first time I didn't wish for my dad.

_Happy Birthday to you_

A tear escaped from my face and disturbed the water I was looking into. Not even my own reflection wanted to be around me. My voice echoed around me, at least my voice didn't desert me I was listening to sing to me. Then my body began to feel hot like I had fallen into a bathtub that was too hot. Than my back began to heat even more intensely like it was boiling and it began to itch. I tried to scratch my back through the thin material of my dress but my nails felt like they were cutting into the skin of my back. I pulled my hand back to see blood coloring the tips of my fingers. Then it got more intense. It was like my skin was being torn apart. I couldn't take it anymore I blacked out.

**Well what do ya'll think?**

**Originally I had planned to update this on the twenty-second; my birthday. But for a couple of reasons I was not able to. One, I was in Yellowstone; beautiful place I totally recommend it (take the bug spray) but internet is hard to come by. Two, since it was my birthday I didn't want people assuming that I was living vicariously through Armony, though one could assume we share the same b-day, since it takes place in July. And thirdly the reason it took so long was because of travel time; we drove to Wyoming and our trailer broke down, don't worry I will not get into that story.**

**Lastly, Siren's Song, has almost reached it's one year anniversary. Because of this and my need to finish another story of mine by November this story will conclude in the next two chapters, three if you count the epilogue (which will not be long).**

**Thanks to everyone especially O'Liathon, and my reviewers.**


	18. Chapter 18

**How was it? **_**Tambien, **_**I feel totally stupid for a mistake I made in the first chapter 1 and 6, I had Mrs. Soladad say "**_**mija" **_**for "my daughter" where one may say it like that the correct words are **_**"Mi Hija" **_**because the letter 'h' does not make a sound in Spanish, the words sort of roll together as one.**

**Soooooooo sorry for not updating sooner but I just haven't been able to right for this story. I don't know why.**

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

_Ch.18 Siren's Song_

She heard the song. She had never heard it before but her mother had told her so many times before that she instantly knew. And she knew she was going to die. The melody, the harmonies, they were all so beautiful each note begged to be heard; and once heard you begged to never have them silenced. Running through the house she grabbed her daughter's Dr. Dre headphones and plugged them into her zune, playing the music as loud as she dared to drown out the song. She knew what had happened. The one fear that she had had for so long was being realized. The music that lay in Armony's blood had been awakened.

**Armony POV**

My back felt like it had been smashed by a barbecue full of hot coals. I tried to sit up but for some reason I was unbalanced and fell back onto the ground. I looked up at a darkening sky; two or maybe it was four stars were out and staring back at me. Every cell in my body was screaming bloody murder for me to get off my back but I felt so tired and drained. I guess seeing the guy you are in love with making out with one of the most horrible people on Earth will do that.

"Fuck." I muttered, putting my hand over my eyes…just to paint my face with the blood on my fingertips….wait….I really needed to cut my nails. BLOOD! The shock of random blood was enough to get me to sit up. Besides my muscles' protests I forced myself to my feet, only to fall onto my hands and knees. I coughed and scarlet blood colored the green blades of grass beneath. My vision blurred as hot tears began to fill my eyes. Out of the corner of my eye a shadow of red and white caught my attention. I froze in shock, but as I stilled the shadow stayed in my sight. Curiosity overtook as I tried to touch it only to lose my balance again and catch myself on my hands again. I tried again but this time I was ready reaching out the tips of my fingers touched the white thing…it was smooth and I could feel my fingers. Upon the realization I brought my hand back like the white thing was about to bite only to have it move away with my body. I was, to put it blatantly, confused and scared as hell. Out of nowhere everything began to smell in some cases good in others not un-good but everything was so smelly.

"The monster is over here!" My head was basically on a swivel as I looked back and forth for the source of the voice and the monster it had warned about. "Mr. D. said it was in this clearing." That sounded like Percy.

"Archers at the ready." And that sounded like Annabeth.

"Wha-what is going on?" I tried to shout but I couldn't move.

"Wait, hold on for a second!" The Percy like voice yelled again.

"No, we don't have time to wait!" Another voice yelled. "Fire!" The soft whirrs of arrows and the low thrum of bow strings sounded through the air. I could hear the arrows flying toward me. I leaned forward my face was practically touching my knees. Then I screamed as the arrows pierced me. I knew they had because that was the only thing that could describe the pain I was in but…I couldn't tell where I had been hit. And my scream…I wasn't screaming. I knew I was making some kind of noise but I couldn't feel the harsh scratch of my throat that I normally felt when I screamed. And I couldn't hear a scream.

Because I wasn't; I was singing. It was loud and high pitched but that sound was coming from me. I forced my eyes open, my sight was cast in darkness but there was a source of light coming from my mouth, like a small ball of light. I could feel the small warmth that came from it. I clapped my hands over my mouth so hard my teeth rattled. The song stopped and everything went eerily quiet, like there wasn't a living thing behind the darkness that lay ahead of my eyes. Before I knew what I was doing I parted the darkness that was hiding me…it was wings. I had wings attached to me. The white feathers were stained and matted with blood but I had wings. I felt tears roll down my face I didn't even try to stop myself from crying. I removed my hands from my mouth I clutched the ground as if it was my only life line, but even as I sobbed every sound that came out of me sounded like singing. I couldn't stop, I wanted to, but I couldn't. So many questions ran through my mind, so many curses, so many prayers but one thought was louder than the rest. "I want my mommy."

Gradually I felt myself become colder and my thoughts began to slow, I felt like sleeping. I fell to my side and I blacked out.

/\/\/\

My mom never sang I don't know why but she never did. It's also really funny since she would 'sing' us lullabies but she would speak them like reciting a poem. I could hear her now.

"_Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea_

_Sirenas are chanting the wild lorelie;_

_Over the streamlet vapors are borne,_

_Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn."_

It's really kind of funny. Mom never recited the first verse she only sang the one about mermaids, and she always said mermaids in Spanish. I remember, back before I stopped singing, that I would fall asleep and dream of being a mermaid sitting on small outcrop of rocks singing to all around me. Sailors and animals and even…my dad would come just to hear me. Silly dreams of a seven year-old. I also remember telling my mom of my dreams, she always supported my music, she said it was a part of our souls, in our blood, but she never supported my singing. My mom never stopped me from singing but she never encouraged me either. I…guess that's weird.

_Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart,_

_E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea;_

_Then will all clouds of sorrow depart,_

_Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me_

_Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me_

Wait a second….That is actually my mom! I forced my eyes open and by that I mean the light stabbed at my eyes and I groaned trying to sit up and look at her. She was a blurry sight but it was my mom. I grabbed onto her as quickly as I could and started to cry.

"Shhh, _quiete mi hija."_ She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me tight as more sobs wracked through me. "It's alright now." She loosened her arms a bit and I pulled away to look at her. Her hair was a mess and her eyes had bas underneath and looked sunken, like she hadn't slept in a long time. And on top of her head were my red Dr. Dre beats.

"Mom, what's going on?" She smiled weakly at me.

"Armony?" I looked over my mom's shoulder to see Annabeth. "I am so sorry we shot you." I turned my head and looked at the wings that were attached to my back. Gods I was hoping it had all been a bad dream.

"What is going on?" My voice cracked but at least I wasn't singing anymore. Then I heard a voice that made me cringe.

"Armony," Connor ran into the room. Just at the sight of him I wanted to cry and shoot him full with hundreds of arrows. "Thank gods you're okay." Oh, hell no. He did not just come in here like he didn't make out with Lilith and break my heart. He must have seen the glare on my face because the smile on his face was swiftly replaced by a look of confusion. "Did no one tell her that Lilith drugged me?"

"No Connor, she just woke up." Annabeth looked back at Connor slightly annoyed. "I thought that we would help with the whole 'having wings' thing first." Honestly the amount of relief I was feeling at that moment was like I had been filled with helium, I felt completely weightless. Then the doubt kicked in.

"What exactly did she do?" I tried not to sound too hopeful. Annabeth looked back at me while Connor smiled in victory (a smile that still made me weak in the knees despite everything).

"Remember that harem potion of hers?" I nodded. "Well she used a weaker form of it on Connor."

"I'm so sorry Armony, I had to do anything she said it was horrible." He tried to move closer but my mom watched him with a critical eye, which in spite of her ragged appearance was still pretty unnerving. I guess I had to forgive that right? I mean he was forced into it. Who am I kidding? If my mom wasn't in front of me and I didn't have wings attached to me I would have jumped up and…Okay reign in the bad thoughts. Then I realized that they had said Lilith.

"Okay, where is that bitch?" I wanted to find her and kill her.

"Don't worry," Annabeth began. "After Connor broke out of his trance and rescued you, again, he told Mr. D that it was Lilith who let the Minotaur into the camp. So Chiron has taken her to Mt. Olympus for trial before the gods."

"Connor rescued me?" From the corner of my eye I could tell that he was smiling proudly.

"Yes, after I ordered the arrows to be shot, we heard this song." As Annabeth continued her voice got quieter more grave. "It was like when Percy and I went to the Sea of Monsters, the Siren's Island, it wasn't exactly the same but it felt so familiar."

"Armony," My mom looked me in the eye. "It's time I explain about our family. Your, my, ancestors were sirens."

"What?" Annabeth beat me to the point. "That's not possible." My mom looked down like she was ashamed.

"It very much is Annabeth." My mom looked at Annabeth then back at me. "Originally the sirens were daughters of the muses and handmaidens of Persephone. They were given wings by Demeter to aid in finding her, the entire time singing songs of their wishes to find her, their desire to find her. When they weren't successful they landed on an island and whether through years of isolation or through their grief, maybe even through a curse of Demeter for failing but they became who we recognize today."

"That still doesn't explain-" Annabeth cut off when my mom gave her the mom glare.

"When Jason crossed paths with the sirens he had Orpheus with him to drown out their song by playing even more beautiful music. This caused one of the sirens, our ancestor, to escape and fling herself into the sea. Poseidon took pity on her and in exchange for her fealty he gave her a new island to remain upon. Which lucky for us when the gods moved over to the US along with western culture she got to stay on Cozumel." Mom was smiled trying to make light of the situation but when she see that it didn't help she deflated a bit and continued. "However the other sirens didn't let her leave without a price. She swore an oath that as long as she existed that she would never sing a Siren's Song and that with every generation of her children their blood would wane and until only a drop was left." Then mom looked down and I know she was trying to hide something, that there was something that she didn't want to say.

"Mom," My voice was cracked and hoarse but I needed to know. "What is it?" We caught each other's eyes and that's when I realized how horrible she really looked.

"If ever a descendent sang a Siren's Song than the others would sing for the generation's death." She started to cry and then it hit me…if all this was true I had just killed my family, I really was a monster.

**Well, there you have it.**

**I wonder how many of saw that coming.**

**I am trying to finish this story because one of my New Year's resolution was not to read any of the books I got for Christmas until this was done so…. Feedback would be awesome I need an inspiration kick. I have the rest of the story planned just not written.**


	19. Chapter 19

**What did ya'll think of chapter 18? I hope it was surprising. But we're not done yet.**

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

_Ch.19 Chiron has a nice Shower_

Chiron really does have a nice shower. It's a walk in shower eight feet by eight feet and it has high pressure showerheads everywhere, I guess it makes sense that he would need a really large shower since he is half horse. And I get to use it because…I am half bird. No matter how many times I think about it no matter how many times I wish it wasn't true I am stuck like this.

I walked over to the shower and turned on the knobs, the water streamed out of the first two heads one placed like a normal shower, the other one opposite. I looked down at my clothes. I was still wearing the blue dress I picked out for my date, but know it was covered in dried blood, and not to mention to giant holes where the wings popped up. It all just really sucked…actually that is not even close. I sang one song. I sang "Happy Birthday" to myself and now my family is dying. When I entered the shower (after using a pair of scissors to get my dress off, which by the way it was Antonio Melani) the hot water was immediately calming, the warmth sunk into my muscles and started to relax me. Then the other shower head facing my back started up and shot between my wings…and honestly there is no way how to describe how good that felt. Then I realized that before the wings I had never felt that and _that_ realization just made everything uncomfortable. Then I made the mistake of looking down. My legs were covered in patches of dry, scaly, ugly, pink skin, like a bird's. I think I started crying but that might have just been the shower, after all monsters don't cry, do they?

/\/\/\

After my shower I had to have Annabeth help dress me, like some kind of invalid (thank you stab wound to pride, I needed that). After ruining three of my shirts trying to fit my wings through we gave up and just borrowed a purple halter top from the Aphrodite cabin. I wanted to talk to my mother but she had fallen asleep and I didn't have the courage to wake her. I didn't want her or Max to see me like this; I didn't want anybody to see me like this.

"Armony," Annabeth began. "We'll figure something out."

"What is there to figure out Annabeth?" I almost flinched at my own voice. I wanted to be angry but I only sounded tired, beaten. "I am a siren, a monster that sings and lures sailors to their deaths, then eats them." I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to yell out how unfair everything was but…I just couldn't and that was the worst part. It was like I had been beaten. "I…I just want to be left alone."

"Alright," Annabeth relented. "Is there anything you would like before I leave?"

"Yes…" I was almost afraid to ask, but it's not like it could get any worse. "Can you bring me my violin?" She nodded and left. When she returned with my violin case I could feel my throat tighten as the familiar weight of the case settled against my arms. Annabeth left me alone (I was relieved to be alone but at the same time I missed having her presence…wow, I am really contradicting).

I opened my case and looked at my violin, despite all the years it went through of abuse it was still in pretty good shape. The wood wasn't as lustrous as it used to be and there were small chips on the edges from when I hadn't been as careful with it as I should have been. But it was _my _violin. Through every breakup, through every un-granted birthday wish, to every disappointment and wound I had ever had this violin had been there for me. At these times I would play whatever I felt, I would let my feelings pour out through every note as I moved the bow across the strings. Years I practiced just so I could make the music that was so dear to me. I guess I had always been right in playing the violin instead of singing…singing has only brought…I don't even want to think. I just want to play.

I grasped the neck to pull it from the case but, it felt odd, almost like I had never held it before. Ignoring that feeling I reached for the shoulder rest and tried to place it on my violin, but it slipped the first time so I had to do it again. When it was on I placed it against my shoulder I took my stance but had to correct myself as the wings through me off balance. After a few more tries I had my balance. I brought the bow to the strings and had my fingers ready. I brought the bow across them but the sounds I had created screeched against my ears forcing me to pull myself away. No…this was not happening. I tried again. This time I played through the sounds but no matter what it wouldn't stop. I tried playing every piece of music I was forced to memorize but none of it was what it should have been. I knew I was playing them correctly A, F, C, D, A, B, I played the notes, I placed my fingers exactly where they needed to be but music never flowed. I slid my fingers across the strings desperately trying to make the music that I had spent years learning and making only for my fingers to begin to bleed.

I finally gave up. I looked at my violin as tears began to sting my eyes and blur my vision. I snapped…or at least my violin did, as I through it against the wall.

**Annabeth POV**

We had no idea what to do. When I handed Armony her violin, the way she looked at it was like how moms look at their children. But after I left the room I could hear her playing it but…it wasn't music. I am not one to normally personify things but, it was like the violin itself was crying and trying to escape. I wanted to make it stop but it continued until finally I heard a smash against the wall. I ran inside to see Armony's violin smashed on the ground. But it was Armony that truly scared me she just stared at the mangled bits of the instrument without saying a word, even when tears fell from her eyes and sobs wracked through her body she was completely silent. But eventually sound began to come with her sobs and I could hear a bits of and pieces of a sad song break through it was beautiful, it made me want to cry.

So I decided to send in the big guns, (**no not Connor, PERVERTS!)** her little brother, Max. For the most part he knew what was going on but he hadn't gotten to see Armony yet. When we had shot her full of arrows he was with Tyson and even after their mother arrived he had only seen her once as well. I had asked Marybeth about this and she explained that Tyson and he were working on a birthday surprise for Armony when everything went to Hades. I knew one thing from the time I had fought Armony, her family was her life.

Percy and Nico had both been observing Max for a while before we found out that he wasn't affected by the Siren's Song like Miss Soladad had been. However remembering her words that " the others would sing for the generation's death" I realized that it was merely beginning with Miss Soladad if nothing happened it would soon claim Armony and then Max. Objectively we were out of our league. But right now wasn't time to dwell on that. Max walked into the Lobby of the Big House, his dirty blonde hair was disheveled and he was carrying a paper bag with him.

"Max," I began wearily, children of Hermes have the worst comedic timing (for everyone else besides themselves). "What have you got there?"

"Armony's present duh." He answered as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What do you mean Armony's present?"

"It was her birthday yesterday." He spoke like he was trying to give me a secret hint, while blabbing the secret. But then again maybe he was on to something. Armony had been singing to herself on her birthday, perhaps giving her the birthday she desired would be what she needed? I lead him to her door. "Armony," I knocked. "I am coming in and-" I was about to tell her that Max was coming in as well when he opened the door and walked inside.

"Woah!" Max spoke loudly in awe. "Armony you're like Max!"

"Max, you don't have wings and why are your referring to yourself in third person?" I asked. But apparently Max's outburst seemed to revert apart of Armony back to herself.

"He's not," She answered sounding a little horse but also less…crushed. "He means Max from Maximum Ride." Armony seemed to laugh at that. "I am nothing like Max."

"Of course you are." Max piped up, stealing his sisters attention. "You have wings." Max pointed out what I assume was the most obvious similarity. "And you are also smart and strong and you always get mad when people are mean to me or Mamma."

"Max," Armony was near tears again. "I am nothing like her." Max is a girl? I guess I need to read something other than Architecture Weekly. "I am a Siren, Max, a monster." Max smiled at his sister in a way that I know only family can smile at each other. I had seen it on my Dad's face a few times before.

"That only makes you cooler. Besides you are my favorite sister." They both smiled like in on some private joke.

"I am you only sister." Armony answered back smiling, weakly, but smiling.

"That only validates the point." Max smiled back, with the all too obvious, Hermes kid grin. Then Armony began to cry again but this time there was no song it was simple human cries.

**Armony POV**

I sat on the bed within my room in the Big House, with several paper bags in front of me. Some of the bags were obviously bought from the store (they were orange and said Camp Half-Blood on them) and others were simple brown bags and a white box. I had a few Happy Birthday cards written in with crayon and another one that was delicately folded into the shape of a blooming rose from Tyson (and he needed help with chop sticks?). Max, Connor, Travis, Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse, Lois, Katie, Tyson and Marybeth stood around my bed and waited for me to begin. It was really nice. I began with the box, written on the tag said "From: Lois" in elegant cursive and a heart over the 'i'. I opened the box and found three Halter tops like the one I was wearing, one in red, orange, and navy.

"Never underestimate the power of navy!" Lois began before I could thank her. "It is just as slimming as black but it is still a color." She smiled triumphantly and I decided to ignore that I think she called me fat. "I figured you would need to spruce up your wardrobe since you got the two new additions." I know she meant the wings but I couldn't help but feel like she was alluding to a boob job…

"Thank you Louis." I smiled and hugged her when she got within range. But before I let her go she whispered in my ear.

"I also hid some perfume under the orange one. It will drive Connor crazy." I began to blush from her comment but…it felt nice knowing that she didn't care that I was a siren but did Connor? Luckily I didn't have much time to think about it.

"Open mine and Tyson's next!" Max shouted. Tyson and he shared a grin and looked back at me as I reached for the paper bag. I reached in and pulled out two chopsticks…I guess I could put them in my hair.

"Thank you Max, Tyson, there lovely." They really were each chopstick was a bright reflective metal like white gold, but unlike white gold when direct light reflected off of it the light broke into rainbow colors.

"Twirl em'." Tyson suggested with barely contained excitement. Oookay. I did just that but the chopstick went from being light and thick and became thicker and heavy making my hand fall a bit. The chopstick had transformed into a sai.

"Holy-" Yeah, those are not going in my hair.

"Cool right?" Max smiled and nodded in obvious victory.

"Let me see that." Clarisse grabbed the sai from my hand and tested out its balance. She nodded. She than placed her index finger between the central shaft and the prong she span it on her finger and suddenly there was a knife in her hand. "Okay that was cool." The knife had a small ring that now encircled her finger she span it again and it changed back to a sai. She flipped it in her hand and back to a chopstick it went.

"Told you she would be speechless."

"Max you and Tyson planned to give me a weapons for my birthday?" I didn't mean to seem mean but...really?

"Well, yeah." Max answered, a little worried I might decide to tell our mother (I think). "We were making it when you came by the other day." No it made sense that was why Max had sent me away. And despite the fact that I was still uncomfortable with him and weapons I couldn't help but try to squeeze the life out of him with a hug, that he (being the little brother he is) tried to break away from.

"Thank you, Max." He rolled his eyes at my appreciation.

"This is from the rest of us." Connor grabbed the last bag and handed it to me. It was even lighter than Max's present. On the bag was a small card attached it read "From: Annabeth, Percy, Connor, Travis, and Katie." Either they were all really lazy about gift giving or this was something really…meaningful. I reached into the bag and felt a leather braid. I pulled it out and saw a short necklace with a single bead on it. The bead was a soft pink, like the inside of a conch shell, on the bead as dark as the night sky (I am a daughter of Apollo I know day and night related colors), was a stylized treble clef, it was it was two swirls overlapping so they formed the clef. But the way it was on the bead was like it was music being carried by the wind, I have never seen something so small seem so magical. I couldn't help but smile because I understood what it meant.

"The Camp Necklace is given to each Camp Half-Blood camper at the end of each summer at Camp Half-Blood. The cabin senior counselors vote on the biggest event of the summer and paint it on a bead. We," Percy gestured to himself Connor, Travis, Katie, and Annabeth. "voted for you." It was nice…at least I know that they meant well, I was happy knowing that they did that for me. But at the same time I felt like crap, the biggest event of the year was that I had _killed_ my family. Clarisse looked at me as I stared at the necklace in my hand and before I knew it I had the hardest slap I have ever felt across my face. At first all I could here was the echo of her slap and a ringing in my ear but as the shock wore of my face stung like a b*tch. I tried to touch my face only to pull my hand back because it hurt too much.

"What the hell Clarisse?" Connor yelled. He jumped in front of her but she merely ignored him. "Dancer, this isn't you." Was she giving me a pep talk? "Yes, your family is being subjected to a curse that will kill them. But it isn't like you to just sit there and take it, to let them get hurt and die."

"She's right." Annabeth than began. "You beat me in single combat after I insulted your mom. Of course if I had been emotionally stable it would have been a different story." That second part she said under her breath.

"As much as I disagree with the _way_ Clarisse began." Katie chimed in. "She's right. Be who you are Armony stop with the self-pity, you're stronger than this."

"Seriously Dancer." Connor reluctantly turned away from Clarisse and looked back at me. He smiled and placed his hand on my non-slapped cheek. He kissed me gently on the lips. He pulled back and I looked into his eyes and saw something that made my heart beat like a hummingbird's. I close my eyes and let the last tears of self-pity fall. I can't be sure if I am as strong as they say or if I am the same person I used to be but one thing was for sure. I grabbed two ends of the necklace and tied it behind my neck. The bead sat comfortingly against the hollow of my throat. I threw back the blankets of the bed that had once covered me. I placed my feet against the floor and for the first time, stood tall and not for the last time angry.

"No one messes with my family."

**So, how'd you like that?**

**Besides the normal disclaimer of not owning the Series I will claim that little favorite sister thing that Max did with Armony. Being the middle child in my family lets me use that on my siblings so I claim that.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry about all the spelling errors in the last chapter I will edit them at some point. So this is coming to the end I hope you guys enjoyed it I did. This is the final chapter of Siren's Song. I have gone over sooo many different ideas for this chapter but in the end I decided to stick to this one.**

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

_Ch.20 Swan Song_

"So you wish to go on a quest to the island of the Sirens in order to end the curse that has afflicted your family?" Chiron asked looking solemn and almost nervous; I guess not many people survive when it comes to the Sirens (well except Odysseus and his crew and Jason and his crew and Percy…and Annabeth). I stood next to Connor, Percy, and Annabeth in the Big House. My friends had been right I may have caused this but I wasn't going to let this happen without a fight.

"That's it in a nutshell." I answered back.

"Rachel what do you make of this." Rachel walked over to Chiron and handed him a piece of paper.

"This is her prophecy," Rachel looked at me and for a second I flashed back to when she had seen the prophecy, it sent a shiver down my spine which echoed into my wings and ruffled my feathers. "She was certainly meant to go on a quest we just need to send others with her."

"I see." Chiron nodded and looked at me. "Honestly I would never have thought to send you on a quest with so little training but you need to choose who will join you." Oh, but you'll send an eight year old?

"I'm going." Connor volunteered before I even had a chance to think. Annabeth looked at him like he was crazy.

"No you're not." She began. "Percy and I have both been to the island before and faced the sirens. We should be going." That made a lot of sense…wait when had they been to the Siren's Island? I stood watching Annabeth and Connor argue for a few minutes (and wishing I had popcorn) before Chiron stepped between the two.

"Armony the choice is up to you." I looked down at the written prophecy.

_"Song of Celebration_

_Shall not be sung in collaboration_

_Sung with dark emotion_

_Begins the transformation"_

Well that already happened. If only I had remembered this stupid prophecy I could have prevented this entire thing! Actually no, Oedipus tried to deny his prophecy and in doing so made it happen. "Annabeth, what do you think this part of the prophecy means" I questioned. She looked at the paper as I handed her the paper. She began to read out loud.

"_One voice alone will sing_

_And alone, lives be saved or death ring"_

"I think you going to have to sing. But whether is refers to singing to end the curse or whether it refers to your healing abilities I can't be sure." Annabeth continued to read on but as soon as she got to the…

"_The one you love shall be drawn but immune _

_And escape the dreadful tune_

_He alone shall save your mind_

_Through actions of love described as kind"_

She decided to spare my some of my feelings. "And this next part refers to when you were feeling less than confident."

"_But ancient curse still reveal_

_Defeat lies through trickery of the deal"_

"And this part refers to the curse." Annabeth raised her hand to her chin and looked at the paper unblinkingly. "I think you will have to make some sort of deal with the Sirens. But they will try to trick you and if they succeed you will not accomplish your mission." Okay I was starting to understand why Annabeth would be a great asset on this quest. Annabeth looked up from the paper toward Connor and then suddenly looked dejected. "It would seem that the prophecy dictates that you take Connor." As much as I wanted to take Annabeth I think she was right until I realized that I am a Siren.

"Alright I have decided." Everyone's attention was on me, and I didn't feel and type of nervousness at all. "Percy, Annabeth and Connor will all go on the quest." Everyone's eyes except Annabeth's, who was on the same wavelength as me, widened.

"Armony, I know we were able to bend the rules for Max's quest but we can't send four of you."

"Not if the quest is to escort a Siren back to the island." I told Chiron and he shook his head in one of those 'where did I go wrong' parent head shakes.

"You children and your loopholes will land us all in hot water one day. Very well, Percy, Annabeth and Connor shall escort Armony to the Island of the Sirens."

/\/\/\/\

So, I am now officially jealous of Percy. He can control an entire ship with only his mind and has like perfect direction sense when on the sea. Why can't I have cool powers like that? Chiron leant us a sail boat (that the Camp stopped using after the Hermes Cabin used it to sail to Cuba) and the ship/boats name is _The Siren's Call_*. I honestly can't say whether it was a good ship or not all I knew was that it needed to go as fast as possible. Although as we found out shortly after departing I can fly…yeah that is pretty awesome. I'm not even sure how I did it to be honest. We started going faster and I was standing at the front of the ship (Percy keeps telling me it's called something else but I really don't care right now) a large gust of wind began to blow against me and I could feel my wings unfolding catching the wind. At first it felt so alien but then the wind hitting my feathers felt like the most natural thing in the world…until I opened them to large and I _flew_ backwards into the mast. After several more tries and Annabeth tied me to the boat with rope (like some kind of humn/siren kite) I kind of figured it out.

To be honest there is nothing better than flying. It isn't exactly a sense of weightlessness but of defiance. Being able to defeat gravity and soar in the sky is…Freedom. Flying in the sky watching the blue ocean before me, the sea mist on my face, I could get used to it. Looking down I realized that I had begun to fly higher than I expected. Connor waved to me, and I felt my heart soar. However despite the utter freedom I felt I began to remember what I was doing I was here to save my family no matter the cost. I angled myself downward and began my descent toward the boat, though I did crash into Connor. I collided into him with an "Umph".

"Sorry about that." I said, my head was on his chest, it was nice, well, besides the whole crash landing into him part.

"No need to apologize." He lifted his head and smiled at me, I could feel the familiar heat in my cheeks but it began to travel lower. "You looked beautiful up there." I couldn't help but smile.

"My landing needs work." I gestured to our position with my eyes.

"I dunno," He shrugged his shoulders. "I kind of like it."

"Despite how _cute_ you two look," Percy spoke in a mom/dad/teacher voice. "We are coming up between Scylla and Charybdis." He finished gesturing to himself, Connor and Annabeth with his arm, which made the boat rock.

"Oh," Way to kill the mood. Back to business though. I got off of Connor and held my hand out to help him up. As soon as he was on his feet though he pulled me into him and kissed me. He really knows how to make me speechless. He pulled back with a wink and walked over to Annabeth handed him a shield and sword. Percy began to snicker like Max does whenever he spoils something for me. I wanted to send him a glare but I could see the whirlpool that was Charybdis. I hadn't noticed before but Percy, Annabeth and Connor were all very nervous. Connor put on a brave façade but Percy and Annabeth grew so quiet. Then I got a crazy idea, just as we got within range of them both Percy began to sail the _very _fine line of safety and certain death. As I began to flap my wings I turned to Annabeth.

"Put wax in Percy's ears and tell him to keep moving." Before she could argue I was in the air. Just as I was able to steady my flight the first of Scylla's…uh…heads? Shot at me. Before I knew what I was doing I was twisting away from her and toward Charybdis, placing me out of range, so I put my plan in action. My ancestor had left Sirens to follow the music of Orpheus, I may not be Orpheus but I am a child of Apollo, and if I have to combine that with a Siren's song, then so be it.

"_A la nanita nana, nanita ella, nanita ella_

_Mi Nina tiene sueno bendito sea, bendito sea_

_A la nanita nana, nanita ella, nanita ella_

_Mi Nina tiene sueno bendito sea, bendito sea_

It was working; I could hear Charybdis calm, the whirlpool around her began to quiet and still. As the roar of the water stilled I flew closer to the cliffs of Scylla.

_Fuentecita que corre clara y sonora_

_Ruisenor que en la selva cantando llora_

_Calla mientras la cuna se balansea_

_A la nanita nana, nanita ella_

As I continued to sing, the sea became a flaccid pool of blue around us. A flew closer to the boat and actually landed without falling on my face.

_A la nanita nana, nanita ella, nanita ella_

_Mi Nina tiene sueno bendito sea, bendito sea"_

As soon as we were out of range I stopped singing.

"Armony that was amazing!" Connor smiled at me. "You sounded beautiful."

"You heard that?" I was expecting him to go all' zombified' like Annabeth had but as he nodded I remembered my prophecy. "We need to talk. I have a plan." After I finished explaining Annabeth looked at me impressed.

"This might work Armony." Annabeth nodded looking at Connor. "After all the prophecy never stated whose defeat."

/\/\/\/\

The first thing I noticed was the stench. It smelled like salt and rot. Getting closer I could see clearly the scum covered bones of those unfortunate enough to come too close. I was not eager to add us to their number. On the wind I could hear their song, it was like listening to random notes hit on a piano they were sweet like each note had been dipped in honey and smooth like oil but it never truly made a song. I was certain that they were singing but I could be certain that they were singing a song. I tried to look for their bodies on the blackened island (mom was right, we were lucky our ancestors got Cozumel), black and grey feathered bodies stood out against the barren waste of the island. I turned to Annabeth she looked at me and nodded. I expanded my wings and took flight. As I landed on the island one of the Siren's took notice of me. All three were like human sized buzzards. Their necks were fleshy and pink and their mouths were black and greasy as if their meals were eaten rotten. Their faces were scary to say the least. Percy had told me that they appear with the faces of your loved ones but being a Siren I was immune to their song, their eyes were beady and black set like to black buttons on the swollen pink flesh of their faces.

"So," One of the Siren's stopped singing and moved forward to look at me. "The lost sister returns to us." Her voice was like that of a British aristocrat. She sounded cordial. She neared me and I could smell the decay on her breath. She looked me up and down and craned her head toward meand breathed deeply through her hooked nose. "No, you are the descendant the one who has awakened our ancient melody." I swallowed, my throat tight. I looked toward Connor and he smiled his assurance. "But she brings demigods with her."

"I am here to have you end your curse." I tried to speak bravely but voice faltered.

"And why would we do that." She turned her head like a bird curiously studying their prey. "The lost sister made her bargain and the last sister's descendent has lost." My mother sick in her bed flashed through my mind and felt adrenaline poor into my veins.

"Because I am here to prove that your song can be defeated." The other two sirens looked at me curiously. "My ancestor left to pursue the music of Orpheus and I am here to prove it is superior. I propose a contest. My music versus yours, if I win you end your curse."

"And if we win we keep the demigods and you add your voice to ours." She smiled, the black muck of her mouth covered her teeth and lips.

"Do you swear upon the river styx?" She looked back at the other two the nodded.

"We swear." They fluffed there feathers and bowed. "We shall play for their desires." She gestured to Percy, Annabeth and Connor. "Away we shall stand from them. We shall sing and you shall sing. They will travel to the song that is superior and to claim victory one must claim the demigods." I nodded. The sirens stopped singing throwing the air into and eerie silence while I went to tell the others of the rules. I walked over to Annabeth; she pulled out the wax from one ear while I described the rules. She nodded. She, Percy and Connor removed the earwax from their ears. Almost instantly the sirens began their song but I was ready and began as well.

"_Shout it out, I can't hold back no more_

_I let it out, all these feelings that were trapped inside_

_I was frozen every time I looked in your eyes_

Unlike the Sirens I didn't sing to spark the desires of my friends I was singing to protect them from the Sirens' song. Like Annabeth had pointed out when I told her of my plan, The sirens and my song were both 'Siren Songs' but like when I had calmed Scylla and Charybdis I was tapping and combining it with the music that Orpheus had commanded.

_Clear my head from all the clutter_

_Things I should have said that wasn't me_

_No, I can't live like that breaking up_

_And there is no looking back_

I wasn't exactly blocking out the Siren's song I was nullifying it. I was using my song to unleash something that they couldn't understand. I was using my song t release my own feelings. I couldn't pander to my friend's desire like they were, but I could fight by protecting them, however since I was still singing a Siren's Song they were still 'zombified'. I looked to Connor, he winked at me. He was the ace on the hole. He was unaffected by my song, but as I sang I protected him from theirs. He grabbed his sword from his belt and walked over to me. He lifted my arm as if declaring me the winner.

_Every little tear I was scared to cry_

_Everything I feared but I kept inside_

_I don't want to hold it back one more day_

_Oh, I'll wash it away_

He walked over to the Sirens and ended their lives. He plunged his sword into the chest of one and he cut off the head of the other before they even realized what was happening.

_Every time a thought clouded up my head_

_Every single word that I never said_

_I refuse to feel ashamed, let it rain_

_Let it rain, let it rain_

He turned to the last one, the one that had been doing all the taking. He raised his sword to her through and with a fast slash she melted into dust. Looking at 'her' fly through the wind he said "You Lose"

/\/\/\/\

When we returned to Camp Half-blood as soon as we could, I was flying the air the second we were close enough for me to make it. I made my way to the Big House and saw Chiron with Max standing in front. At first I thought, it was a congratulations sort of thing but then I could see their faces. Max was crying, he was trying to stay strong but I could see him move his fist across his eye to remove the tears. "No…" Max looked up and almost smiled seeing me fly but it wasn't enough cause as soon as I landed he ran and hugged me. He finally let all his tears come out and sobs wracked through his body as I had him in my arms. I Looked up at Chiron, my vision already blurring. "Chiron?" He looked down for a second but then met my eyes.

"I am sorry Armony." NO! I couldn't, wouldn't believe this.

"What about my quest? We succeeded!" Hot tears began to fall over my cheeks.

"The Siren's Song has taken its toll Armony." He spoke quietly, caringly but it didn't help. "Your mother doesn't have much time left in this world. Go to her. You will at least be able to say goodbye." I wanted to yell and scream at him but the look in his eyes told me that there was no changing what was happening. I swallowed my cries and began walking to the room my mother was in. I didn't even knock. Mom was lying on the bed and looked pale, her hair was a mess of tangles and frizz and greasy. Her lips were chapped and breathing was so faint.

"Mom?" She opened her eyes and looked at me.

"_Mi hija,_" Mom tried to sit up but her body was too weak, so she settled for turning her head to look at me. "My strong, smart, beautiful daughter, you came back. I am so proud."

"No, _mama_ I was supposed to save you stop this curse."

"But you did Armony. You stopped it and now you and Max will be safe." I grabbed onto her hand. How many times had I grabbed her hand for support? For strength? This wasn't right this was so unfair. "You know," Mom began. "I approve of Connor. He is a good boy, with the right amount of bad." I couldn't help but smile. "He will be a good man someday and I think that will be good for Max."

"Mom, I-"

"_Mi hija_," She interrupted me. "Sing for me. I do not want that 'song' being the last music I hear."

"_Si mama,"_ I started to hum. I didn't know what sing so I just hummed long forgotten melody, one that I hadn't heard since my grandmother died. While I hummed mom smiled and closed her eyes like a kid getting ready to sleep, but mom would never wake up. I wasn't going to give up.

"_Lord Apollo god of song_

_Let me correct that which is wrong_

_That which is mine to give_

_Be hers now so she may live"_

**Connor POV**

I heard her song before I knew what was happening. I was talking with Travis and Katie when it started out as a hum. For a while I couldn't help but wonder why I could hear Armony sing, like the first time when I wasn't anywhere near her but I could hear her clear as day…or a bell…or something else clear (I'm not sure how that metaphor goes). After I picked the prophecy from Annabeth's pocket it all started to make sense. And I have to admit it made me happy. But back to her humming I could hear it, it was a pretty melody but something was wrong.

I looked over toward the Big House and saw Rachel walking out but she was walking hunched and slowly like she was about to have a vision! The second I was in earshot I heard her latest prophecy.

"_The silver Swan, who living had no Note,_

_when Death approached, unlocked her silent throat._

_Leaning her breast against the ready shore,_

_thus sang her first and last, and sang no more:_

_"Farewell, all joys! O Death, come close mine eyes!_

_"More Geese than Swans now live, more Fools than Wise."**_

Like the times when the mummified oracle gave a prophecy her eyes turned into a foggy green and green mist started appearing from…somewhere. Listening to a prophecy is hard it takes the heat from your body and leaves you weary but before I could hear the last of the prophecy I heard Armony begin to sing. She sang to the same melody that she hummed but it began her words flowed out like a river bursting through a dam. Her words were loud in my ears and they echoed within my body as I finally realized what she was doing. I wanted to run but it was like the world had been placed on slow motion. But one voice broke through. From the Big House everyone around (probably everyone in the entire camp) could catch Ms. Soladad yell Armony's name.

Finally I was able to move again, I pushed past everyone before me and what I saw will forever be engrained into my memory. Ms. Soladad knelt on the ground cradling Armony while a pull of blood laid beneath her. Pure white feathers drifted to the floor like a falling snow.

**So…that ending like a pillow fight gone wrong huh?**

**Again as I stated before this is actually not the only idea I had for the final showdown with the Sirens. The first song used was A la Nanita from the Cheetah Girls 2 the second was Let it Rain by Jordin Sparks.**

**My * can anyone guess? Cause it is also a hint at to the new project I just started whoever can guess correctly will get a prize…sorta.**

****, Rachel's prophecy was borrowed from Orlando Gibbons madrigal "The Silver Swan".**


	21. Epilogue

**It took me nearly two years…wow! I kind of suck on the whole timing thing, C'est la vie!**

**That ending was very Greek tragedy, no?**

**So, as you can probably guess chapter twenty was not the last, last chapter. However this is the epilogue, so **_**the**_** last chapter (though I don't consider it an actual chapter). Anyway it was a good run and this won't be very long.**

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

_Siren's Song: Epilogue_

It was actually a pretty cool day. The sun was shining brightly, thanks dad, but there was a cool breeze wafting into the camp so it was pleasant. Today there was going to be a capture the flag but that wasn't until later so I decided to be lazy. I was just going to go to the beach and swim or just sunbathe. Chiron had given me the day off due to 'recent events', which was totally okay for me. I was glad that things had worked out the way they did. My mom was alive and I wasn't either. I lost the wings which in all honesty I kind of miss, flying was the best. But no matter what I prefer my family being safe over some wings. I arrived at the beach only to find it completely to myself…I will take it! I took my beach towel and rolled it out on the sandy beach. I was on the perfect spot. I was under a tree with a wide spread canopy, so I was in shade but it let in _just_ enough sun and every time a breeze would drift through the branches making the leaves shake so it was like the sun was glittering through. Very far away I could faintly here the other campers sparring, the clang of swords the thuds of hitting, the bash of a shield and a few pain filled grunts. Closing my eyes I focused my attention on the rhythm of the waves.

I turned over onto my stomach and I almost fell asleep until I heard someone shuffling through the sand.

"Armony!" Connor called out to me and I could feel my mouth curve into an involuntary smile. Then I remembered the scars on my back where my wings used to be. When I healed my mother I gave up the 'immortality' that monsters have. But my wings kind of exploded…or at least that's how it felt to me. Kayla was able to heal me but it left two large puffy, pink jagged scars on my back. Together they seemed to form an upside down 'V'. My legs were back to normal and I could play the violin again. But the second, after the first that I realized it was Connor I turned over so he wouldn't be able to see my back. I was hoping to be nonchalant about it but the smile that he had disappeared and was replaced with a frown. "Armony, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," I answered but he was having none of it. I looked into his blue eyes and I saw something that made me blush.

"Armony," He began giving me a stern look but only support could be heard in his voice.

"It's my scars…" I admitted. I am not sure what I expected but what I got I did not expect. He maneuvered himself around me. He sat with his legs open so I was between them he trailed a finger over my back and touched the where the scar met normal skin.

"These," He touched with a bit more pressure, my breathing picked up almost like I was panicking but at the same time it felt good. "Are trophies Armony." I started to shake my head 'no' but he continued. "They show that you did everything you could to save you family, that you were willing to sacrifice your own life." Before I knew it he was dragging his lips so slightly across my skin. My breathing became faster but now I know it was a good thing. "They are beautiful just like you."

"You are too god to be true," I said turning my head over my right shoulder. He looked up and we were so close. "You know that, right?" He gave me a cocky nod and sexy smirk.

"Yeah," We leaned in close to eachother and just as we were about to kiss.

"I found her!" Max yeld.

_Fin_

**So some future news, I have two new projects**

**My *, from last chapter was a homage to Dragon Age 2, Isabela's ship was named the Siren's call. That being said (er…written) I am planning a crossover between Dragon Age and Percy Jackson. If you are interested leave a review or PM me.**

**Project two is my sequel to Siren's Song. I have a plot so far but right now I am working on the outline. But the major points are:**

**I explain what happened between Siren's Song and The Lost Hero, and why Percy's memories were erased (my take).**

**Armony goes on a quest as a favor to the gods to bring someone back from the underworld.**

**Lastly, I get into a very distant and past relationship that Armony has had with someone we all know…and at one point hated. Any ideas who?**


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